All the Queens' Men
by Silenced Doves
Summary: Usagi never meets Luna. During a Youma attack she transforms by accident. She encounters Jadeite, the remaining free Shitennou that is looking to liberate his fellow Shitennou from Beryl's control and find his King. Usagi will have learn to control her powers with the help of the sarcastic playboy Shittenou in order to save the remaining Senshi and find the missing Moon Princess.
1. Sailor Moon Appears

A/N: Well here we go again. Another off the wall idea that I just had to get out there and I know I am writing 3 other stories on an active basis but I wanted to type up an introduction to see how well it is received. If people like the idea I will continue but it will probably be a slow update until I finish one or more of my other active projects. Oh yeah and this will be a little a/u. Usagi will be more like the manga version so she will start out lazy and whiny but will mature into the role fairly quickly. She'll have some backslides but nothing like the anime where she seemed to reset every season to a whiny brat. I have also made her a little more bad ass when in scout mode since she won't have the scouts to soften the targets she won't just be the 9th inning pitcher in this story.

Chapter 1: Sailor Moon appears

Usagi looked out the window with a mournful sigh. Once again she had detention due to her tardiness and once again she was held long after the sun had set. She would be lucky to make it home before nine tonight but there was little she could do. If she skipped detention her mother would simply yell at her and then she'd be in detention for two nights.

The short blonde haired girl was currently lamenting her fate. She was the only one in detention other than her teacher. Objectively she didn't look like a trouble maker. Her blonde hair done up in an odd meatball style that allowed the hair to flow like ribbons. A rather cute heart shaped face that would one day make her a stunner and to finish it off silver blue eyes and a cute smile that revealed perfectly even white teeth. Yes she didn't appear to belong here at all but still she was here in a prison of her own making.

While most students would perhaps tackle their homework and attempt to get caught up, Usagi found herself hiding her Sailor V comic book in her text book. She was enamored…the girl who lived in France supposedly was a true super hero and supposedly fought actual monsters. Of course that was silly there was no way a girl with as many movie deals as Sailor V was an actual super hero. With a chuckle she turned her attention back to the page she was reading before a hand suddenly slammed down next to her.

"Erp." Usagi let out a strangled cry that was half surprise and half guilt at knowing that she was caught. She fearfully turned her head towards her teacher and just as expected her teacher was glaring at her with such ferocity she could have put two holes through her head. "Sorry…"

"Usagi…" Her teacher sighed after a moment of holding the glare on the young girl. "If you don't apply yourself, you'll never get anywhere in life. When will you learn this? No matter how much I punish you, I can't seem to get through to you." The older woman said with a sigh.

"I'm really trying!" Usagi responded automatically before looking down guiltily at her comic book in her text book. "Er…most of the time..."

Mrs. Neece simply shook her head in defeat. "You know when you first entered this school I was excited to have you. A girl that scored near perfect on her entrance exams! I thought I was in for a genius caliber student. You have the intelligence…you just don't have any drive to apply it. I just wish I could do something to motivate you to apply yourself."

"I'll try harder next time I swear!" Usagi responded indignantly.

"Usagi…that's the problem there is always a next time with you." Mrs. Neece responded her voice edged with annoyance. After a moment of consideration she decided holding Usagi here any longer was a fruitless endeavor. "You're dismissed Usagi…please think about your future and where you are going with life."

"Alright…" Usagi responded tentatively. Of all her teachers she both feared and respected Mrs. Neece. The woman told Usagi like it was and normally didn't go into teacher mode of telling her students to do it because I said so. Mrs. Neece always presented reasonable arguments for her instructions and punishments. Of course that didn't mean she had to like or agree with them.

With little fanfare she packed her bag up and with a final good night she slipped out of the classroom. She decided to walk home since she had not expected to get out so early. Anyway if she took the bus she'd probably end up overshooting her stop as she was preoccupied with what Mrs. Neece had said. Was she really setting herself up for some kind of failure? She honestly didn't think so. The way she saw it was that it was pointless to apply herself in High School and burn herself out. All she had to do was ace the entrance exams to university and she was good to go.

Still Mrs. Neece rarely gave her bad advice. She was so preoccupied with her thoughts that she found herself wandering into one of the local parks and sat down on a swing. If she had been paying attention perhaps she would have seen the danger. Instead the only warning she received was a growl.

One moment was on the swing and the next moment she realized she was on the ground and her stomach was hurting from the surprise blow. With a gasp of pain she managed to push herself up into a sitting position and just barely managed to keep herself from puking. She hesitantly looked up to see what had hit her.

Instead of finding a High School punk she found a giant monstrous creature standing over at her. It was vaguely humanoid in shape but that is where the similarities ended. First off it was green…yep not normal for a human at all. Then it was heavily muscled and its hands and feet were elongated and ended in sharp claws. If she somehow reasoned her way past those features the face did it. It was animalistic almost looking like a parody of humanity. Red bulging eyes that had no pupils, two large jutting horns, curved elfin ears, and an elongated muzzle like jaw that was full of sharp teeth.

The moment her brain finally recognized the danger she was in she backpedaled away from the thing by crawling like a crab and shrieking for help. Unfortunately no one was around to hear her.

When she gained enough distance she noticed the creature was just standing there. After a moment of indecision she hesitantly got to her feet and called out to the creature in a stammering and fearful voice. "W…w..wh..what do you want?"

"Your energyyyyyy." The creature growled. It had been drawn to the girl. Unlike most of the useless humans in this city that let out little power and their aura barely registered. The energy that this girl possessed radiated out of her in near limitless waves. Nephrite would surely reward one for draining such a victim. Even better it could leave her alive and use her like a rechargeable battery. With her power being harvested they could have enough power to raise Beryl from her weakened state in a matter of weeks rather than months or years at the current rate.

"M..my energy?" Usagi queried unsure if she had heard the creature right. Why would this creature want her energy? It looked like it was more likely to eat her. After a moment of indecision she decided she wasn't going to be anyone's food source. "Well no way buster! I am no one's energy source!"

The creature chuckled darkly before raising its arm and pointed its fingers towards the girl. "Your wisssshesss are not my concerrrrn." The finger tips started to glow with a dark purple energy and after a moment of build up five glowing laser like whips of energy suddenly extended from the end of its claws. "Now Sssstand sssstill ssssso I may drain youuu." It gave her little more warning as it brought its arm back like a whip before lashing out at her intent on draining her completely before kidnapping her.

Right as the energy whip was about to reach her a glowing silver broadsword with a moon attached at the pommel suddenly appeared in front of Usagi. The sword started to spin in front of her and produced a transparent barrier that deflected the attack.

While most people wouldn't even think to grab a spinning sword, Usagi was not most people. The teen instinctively reached out and just grabbed the weapon's hilt. She stared at the blade almost surprised she could hold it. The weapon was at least four feet long just a foot shorter than her. The silver blade was double edged. The guard was an intricate flowing design that seemed to follow the moon theme. The edges of the guard also had mini moons in them. Finally the hilt was a beautiful blue and was long enough for a two handed grip.

The moment she had both hands on the hilt she felt a wave of energy take over and she started to glow.

"Whaaaat black magic isssss thissss." The Youma half hissed half growled in annoyance. Never had it encountered a human that could generate a barrier and carried a weapon of that kind. It stepped back and raised its hand to cover the sensitive eyes from any damage of the silver glow that was lighting up the entire park.

The light around her burst outwards and whereas prior she was wearing her normal school uniform she now wore an interesting combination of items. She wore a white leotard and a blue mini skirt along with knee high red boots. White gloves covered her hands and most of the way up her arm to her elbow. A silver tiara appeared on her head for a moment. Then all of a sudden the outfit started to change and become armor. The shoulders of her leotard sprouted two blue metal pieces of armor that covered her shoulders and extended about five inches past where her shoulder ended but it didn't stop there. The metal armor spread across her chest and turned silver before stopping right under her chest. The mini skirt stayed to allow maximum mobility. Her boots turned a blue color as armor spread over the boots. Finally her gloves disappeared and in their place blue metal bracers appeared and covered her forearms. The armor protected most of the vital areas while leaving her completely free mobility. Certainly more realistic if she was to fight with a sword than just a simple leotard, not that the mini skirt made much sense for fighting. Then again she was not in a position to complain or control what was happening to her. Her hair was the last part of the change and the meatball styled hair fell apart and straightened before a small metal band of silver appeared at the base of her neck to hold her long blonde hair behind her.

All in all when the change faded away she was an imposing sight…or would have been imposing if she didn't scream in surprise at the change. Usagi just stared dumb struck at the changes she could see not even wanting to know what she looked like. She craned her head this way and that before coming to the conclusion that she looked rather badass. Perhaps this wasn't so bad after all. With a confident smile she pointed the sword at the creature. "Alright! Now I suggest you give up now! I don't know what the hell just happened but I am gonna kick your ass!"

The Youma just blinked at her before realizing that the girl was just as surprised as it was. It hissed darkly in a mocking chuckle. "Sssssilly human…I will have yourrr powerrr yet…you cannot even wield that blade." It pointed out the fact she currently had the blade pointed towards its foot rather than in any real threatening position.

In the blink of an eye the creature faded from view and before Usagi had any chance to counter the creature reappeared behind her and with a swift back hand it sent her flying away and right into the jungle gym. Usagi hit with a terrible resounding gong as her armor reverberated with the metal of the jungle gym. The sword she had been holding flew out of her hands and landed several feet away from her.

Before she could recover the creature was on her again. Giant fists slamming into her stomach and armor indiscriminately causing her to gasp in the shock of the pain, Usagi fought the urge to scream in pain. She was a fairly nonviolent person and had never actually been in a fight before so even though she recognized something had happened to her and she wasn't feeling the impacts like she knew she should it was still enough to take her breathe away.

Every time she tried to counter or get up the creature just slammed her back into the ground or took her by the legs and threw her into a tree. At this point she felt bruises in places she never knew existed and was running low on energy to fight back. All she knew was that she was defenseless and this creature was knocking her around like a punching bag. If she could get to her sword she may have a chance but the creature wasn't letting her anywhere near it.

"Wellll hassss the fight been beaten out of you human?" The creature asked the rhetorical question before it let loose the energy draining whips from earlier. "Any lasssst wordssss?"

"Ple..please just leave me alone." Usagi managed to get out through a half strangled sob. This was not what she wanted at all. At first she thought this armor thing was pretty cool. She looked like a bad ass version of Sailor V but now she just wanted to go home and pretend this never happened.

"No sssssuch luck, my master Nephrite shall reward me handsomely for finding a living batteryyy." It chuckled darkly before bringing its energy whips down towards the beaten girl.

The energy draining whips were deflected though at the last minute with a whip made completely of fire.

The sudden intrusion caused both Usagi and Youma to look up in surprise. There standing half way across playground stood a man in a bright white uniform. It almost looked like an admiral's dress uniform. The entire outfit gleamed from the press and polish. The only thing that differentiated it was the red lining on the breast of the uniform that went around the neck and shoulder before ending in circles on the cuffs. The black shoes and shiny black button completed the ensemble. The young man was of medium height and build fairly. He would fit in fairly easily if not for his distinguishing bright green eyes that appeared to be chips of jadeite and his tousled blonde hair. He had a handsome face with a roguish grin that revealed pearly white teeth.

"So you work for Nephrite eh? How has old prissy pants been?" Jadeite questioned rhetorically since he knew the creature wouldn't have a clue. "But look how rude I've been not even introducing myself. I suppose prissy pants Nephrite can wait." Waving his hand in dismissal of the subject, Jadeite instead took a small bow and with a flourish he clapped his hands together before slowly opening them. In the middle energy started to swirl before it suddenly flared up in a wave of flames. When the fire died down a traditional black katana appeared that the Shitennou grabbed at the hilt. "I am the Eastern Shitennou, Jadeite and the last remaining true Shitennou that seeks to free his fellow Shitennou from Beryl and find his King. I shall restore the balance and bring this Earth peace with my burning flames of purity. In the name of the Eastern fires that burn in my heart I shall ruin you!" To make his point he leveled the black blade at the creature, a devious grin crossing his face.

The creature backed away from Usagi suddenly unconcerned with the beaten little girl. This man he knew was a serious threat. The man had been ruining plans and attempting to isolate the Shitennou so that he could sway them from Beryl's control. Beryl had made it quite clear the price of failure to kill this swine would be. With a roar the monster charged the Shitennou with whips extending from both hands once more. It jumped forwards and brought all ten of the energy whips down on the man in front of him.

Jadeite chuckled softly as he parried the energy whips with his sword and a quick burst of fire from his free hand to burn the dark energy away. "You'll have to do better than that! If Beryl's dark energy couldn't quell the fire of purity that roars in my veins what chance do you have of turning me? Now die you piece of shit." With a quick parry he made a downward slash and let a wave of flames surround the sword. The blade missed the Youma but the blade of fire continued and the creature just managed to get out of the way. The blade of fire faded out a few feet past and left the air with a slightly singed smell from burning ozone.

Meanwhile Usagi had managed to recover and half hobbled over to gather her sword up. It was odd but she could already feel the wounds fading away as if her body was using her energy to speed up the healing process. With a glance down at her stomach she confirmed it. Whereas before she could see the black and blue bruising already appearing through the white material the bruising was already going down. After she gathered herself again she could see that Jadeite was still fighting with the creature and currently having trouble landing a finishing blow.

Every time Jadeite had the creature it jumped out of the way or managed to parry. It was without a doubt that he had skill but the creature was built by Nephrite, the elder Shitennou did not have the finesse that Jadeite possessed but he did have pure power and a tactical mind. With that ability the older Shitennou had created Youma that were generally able to counter Jadeite with brutal power to push past his attacks. This had been the main reason that he couldn't get anywhere. He had killed the first wave with little effort but now Nephrite was putting his own power into the creatures and he was usually lucky to fight them to a stalemate or wear them out until their energy reserves depleted.

Usagi raised her sword and was not particularly sure what she was going to do but she knew he needed help. A voice in the back of her head seemed to tell her what to do. She didn't question it since she didn't know what else to do and raised her large broad sword. "Lunar Rush!" Her feet and sword started to glow silver with energy and she started running towards the weary Youma. She started to fade out of view and as she did she swung her sword through the Youma bisecting it in half just as she disappeared and reappeared a few feet from the Youma.

The Youma stood still for a moment before black blood sprayed out of the side as a long line slowly appeared around its entire middle. A moment later the entire upper half slid off the lower half and after a spray of black ichor like blood it disappeared in a cloud of dust.

Usagi just stared at where the monstrous creature once stood before looking down at her blade and then over to Jadeite stood mirroring her surprise. Finally Usagi couldn't stand the awkward silence between the two. "Umm…hi…"

"Who are you?" Jadeite asked with a raised eyebrow. He decided that the girl in front of him looked a lot like Sailor V and seemed to have powers like Sailor V and if she killed a Youma she must not be a threat…to him at least not yet. With a flourish of his hands he pressed his Katana away into formless energy and made the katana disappear.

"Um…I'm Usagi…" She answered uncertainly. Really she had no clue what was going on. "Look…I really have no idea what is going on…I got attacked and suddenly a sword appeared. Then!" She gestured to her crazy get up of armor and super short skirt. "I suddenly was in this."

"So…you're not a Sailor Senshi?" Jadeite asked a hint of disbelief in his tone. "Because I've worked with Sailor V…and she has a similar get up. She is searching for her Princess or something...honestly I could never keep up with her. We split up since she was still getting a signal in France and I followed the signal of my King here."

"Wait! You mean you worked with Sailor V!" Usagi cried out in delight. Stars practically appeared in her eyes at the knowledge that this man personally knew her hero. "How is she on the set? Is she as nice as she appears in the movies?"

"What? Set?" Jadeite had a puzzled look on his face before he realized she actually thought Sailor V was a movie star. "Wait…wait...you literally just pulled a magic sword out of the air and are running around in a suit of armor and you still think Sailor V is an actress? After watching a monster disintegrate into thin air and watched me create fire out of thin air as well?"

"Well isn't she?" Usagi asked with a hint of uncertainty in her voice. She was less concerned with the issues that Jadeite pointed out than her idol.

Jadeite rolled his eyes while muttering under his breath. "You've gotta be kidding me…I find the only person that can easily kill these Youma and she's a bigger airhead than Minako." After a moment of deep breathing he plastered a smile on his face in an attempt to keep from strangling air head 2.0 as he now dubbed this girl. "So…you seriously have no clue who you are? No little white annoying cat that has abandonment issues following you around telling you what to do and who you are and complaining about every god damn thing under the sun?"

"White cat?" Usagi queried with a raised eyebrow.

"Sailor V had an annoying little fleabag of a cat that told her what the hell to do. He was probably the worst intelligence source ever so I'm kinda glad you don't have one of those." Jadeite sighed a little in relief over that. Perhaps Usagi wouldn't be that bad after all. That cat was half the reason he left France…that and Minako's mix and match proverbs. Seriously if he heard one more 'Fortune favors a free lunch' he would lose it. "Never mind…anyway I think it'd be good if I helped you out a little."

"No…I've never seen a cat and what do you mean help me out?" Usagi responded with questioning tone. Suddenly she recognized where she had seen him before. It had been bothering her the whole time but she finally realized who this was…he was the new super-hot exchange student that had arrived at their school this week. "Wait a second!" You're Jadeite Ashbel! The new exchange student from France! I knew I recognized you from somewhere!"

""Yes…yes…glad you were able to add that up." Jadeite muttered. If he were honest though he was a little impressed with the girl despite her seemingly inability to stay on point she was able to add things up rather quickly. A sour look passed his face for a moment upon remembering the fight he had with Minako regarding the same subject. He literally had to transform in front of her and then revert back to his civilian state for her to believe him. "As I was saying though do you have some time…I fear this may take a while and I rather you know what you're getting yourself into."

"Get…myself into? You mean like fight? Again?" Usagi questioned.

"Of course…you can kill the Youma easily enough and I require your assistance in finding my King and saving my fellow Shitennou from Beryl." Jadeite stated as if he was speaking about the weather.

"Um…no…I don't…I gotta go!" Usagi cried out before she took advantage of her forms additional speed and ran out of the park.

"Wait!" Jadeite cried out in annoyance. He growled in annoyance upon seeing her disappear out of his sight range. "Stupid girl! You're going to get yourself killed if you don't even know what you're fighting!" He called out after her. The Shitennou debated going after the idiot but she had given her name to him and she clearly went to the same school. "Very well Usagi…run away while you can but I'll find you at school then you idiot girl." Jadeite commented to himself before casually walking out of the park and fading out of view.

There was no way she was going to get roped into this! Sailor V was awesome to read about and it seemed like fun but the real thing was not something she was prepared for! As she ran home she just wished this armor would go away before she got home! There was no way she could explain this to her mom. With a glance at one of the clocks she saw it was nearing nine…if she was late getting home her mother would ask questions.

Thankfully as she turned onto her street the armor suddenly disappeared and her it must have heard her wish for it to disappear. Her normal clothing reappeared with the addition of a silver chain necklace with an artfully designed sword attached to the end of the chain that appeared around her neck. The little sword appeared to be a miniature replica of her weapon.

"Usagi is that you?" Usagi's mom called out as the young girl barreled through the front door like a wrecking ball alerting everyone to her arrival.

"Not now Mom! I had a bad day at school and I need to finish up my homework sorry!" Without waiting to hear a response she disappeared up the stairs and into her bedroom before dumping her back pack and falling onto the bed.

She stared up at the ceiling and wondered why the fates hated her. Was it because she hadn't applied herself at school? Was this her punishment for coveting her Sailor V's power? If that was case she didn't want it anymore! "It's not fair!" Usagi wailed into her pillow.

A/N: So here is where we end. I think this is a decent intro chapter. If you're interested leave a review. If you're not then don't or leave a flame about how terrible the idea is. Again I needed to at least flesh the idea out into a one shot. I will continue it when I have time based on any response I get. Thanks again for reading.


	2. A Charming Stalker

A/N: Well…clearly I am back. This story is making it into the regular rotation and will be the final story I'm writing until I finish some others. I will write it as inspiration hits me. Thanks again to my reviewers for the support. I guess this is a pretty interesting concept for people based on the reviews. I am actually pretty interested in it as well. You can thank ladyhawk89 and her story 'Looking For You'. I got the idea while reading it of "Hey what if instead of just a missing Princess the Prince is missing as well." Of course to have a missing Prince you need someone with a vested interest in finding him. I've always liked Jadeite and out of all the Shitennou I always thought he was the hot headed one and most likely to rebel if I created a reason for it. So here we are onto Chapter 2. Oh I've found my works are best viewed in 3/4ths page view just to make it flow better.

Chapter Two: A charming stalker

Dark Kingdom:

Nephrite made his way into the throne room at a languid pace. Every step he took could be heard over the silence in the room as his polished black boots clicked against the tile floor. The large bear of a man tugged at the collar of his grey uniform, a tad uncomfortable with the news he was about to bring to Beryl. Failure was not to be tolerated and unfortunately Jadeite had lived to fight another day.

Even worse he mused to himself a new enemy had appeared. If there was one thing he hated to do was provide Beryl with bad news…the woman was unstable and could take new information that impeded her plans any number of ways. Well it was too late now to worry about it. Upon arriving before his Queen, Nephrite clenched his right hand and brought it swiftly to his chest before kneeling before his Queen and waited to be recognized.

For her part Beryl stared at her subordinate for a minute. She let the man sweat a little before deciding to recognize his presence. It was rare for the Shitennou to come to her to report directly so whatever Nephrite had to say was probably important which means she wouldn't like it. Still it wouldn't do to punish her Shitennou…right away anyway. "Nephrite, have you missed your Queen?" She said softly the undercurrent of her tone rife with sarcasm.

"I bring news, Queen Beryl." Nephrite responded respectfully. He ignored the sarcasm and kept his head bowed to avoid giving her a reason to punish him out of anger. If there was one thing he learned it was to not rise to her verbal bait. Unlike Zoisite who ran his mouth without thinking, he had learned to bite his tongue.

"Then by all means my faithful Shitennou. Please go on." Beryl waved her hand for him to continue not that he could see with his head down.

"My Queen…my most recent attempt to find the Moon Princess has failed…it appears that the rogue General Jadeite has tracked us to Japan." Nephrite stated ever careful to keep his tone even and respectful.

Beryl nodded a tad disinterested in Nephrite's report. "It was to be expected, the moment you disappeared from France I knew that troublesome twit would follow. We should count our blessings that Senshi brat is still there from what I can determine." She stated before glancing down at her Shitennou, she had expected him to rise but instead he stayed bowed at her feet. An annoyed sigh left her lips…it was clear her Shitennou had more and she did not expect her to take it well. That would probably be true but she needed to know. "Is there something further?"

"Yes…it appears a new Sailor Senshi has appeared. One I have never seen before. She destroyed my Youma quite easily." A frown crossed Nephrite's face at his own words but Beryl of course could not see it. "One I do not remember from before…a Moon themed warrior. I believe we are getting closer to the Princess though…if this new Senshi is a new guardian created to protect the Princess then we must be close."

Beryl took in all the information that Nephrite provided in stride. She absentmindedly tapped her nails upon the arm of her throne in thought. What to do what to do. From what she could remember there were only four of those annoying Sailors that were from the inner planets and the outer planet's Senshi tended to stay far from the Moon to protect the edges of the realm. Still if there was a guardian that Queen Serenity had created to protect her brat…it was something to be concerned with. "Very well Nephrite…we must not rush headlong into the unknown. I want you to scout…" Beryl chuckled at that. "Out this new Senshi and see if she will work with Jadeite like he worked with that annoying Sailor V. If they do it may cause us problems."

Nephrite nodded before he responded in a calm tone. "Of course my Queen, I shall assess her powers and if she works with the traitor. Once I determine her true threat level I shall provide you with a report."

"Yes…yes we must be careful with this unknown enemy." Beryl mused. Any further comments were cut off at the sudden appearance of an unwanted visitor.

"Beryl…are you actually practicing some kind of self-restraint?" A voice cut through the silence of the hall with a chuckle.

"Endymion…" Beryl growled in annoyance before looking towards the giant doors to her throne room. There in the shadows of the doorway stood a tall imposing figure, behind him and to the sides stood three distinctly female figures. Great it was Lord Death and his little entourage of Conquest, War, and Famine was accompanying him as well. "What do I owe the pleasure of this visit from the Four Horsemen?"

Nephrite's eyes hardened slightly the mention of Endymion. The man was a menace and never showed his Queen proper respect. He couldn't take it anymore. The casual manner in which he addressed his Queen and appeared unannounced, it would not be tolerated no matter what his feeling about Beryl happened to be. With a slight growl he rose to his feet and turned to the doorway. "You will show the Queen proper respect!"

"Oh?" Endymion responded with a slight chuckle as he stepped into the throne room. The man in question was dressed in flowing black armor. The thick armor covered every inch of his body sans his head and face. The armor was beautifully crafted and had beautiful gold inlay that flowed all throughout the armor's joints. It all came together in a giant golden scythe in the middle of his chest. Finally a large claymore sword was attached to the back of his armor. All in all he made an imposing sight. "And what are you going to do? You are but a pathetic little lapdog."

The remaining three figures also stepped into the room. If one had known about the Sailor Senshi it would at first appear to be Sailor Mars, Mercury, and Jupiter. Unfortunately that is where the similarities ended. Sailor Mars had an ever present devious smirk on her face. Her entire outfit was red now with a black skirt and black ribbon in place of what would have been her normal outfit. "I'd love a crack at him." She commented with a sneer. Attached at her hips were two trench knives and attached to her back was a bow with no string and no arrows. Then again when you used fire as a weapon what need did one have of such things. She took her rightful place at the side of Endymion.

What was once Sailor Mercury stepped out next from the shadows of the doorway and fell into place behind and to the side of War. She was dressed in all black with blue trim accents only on the edges of her skirt and the ribbon attached to her chest. Her eyes were hidden behind a semitransparent blue visor and finally a pair of short swords attached at either hip. "Don't bother…he hasn't gotten any stronger since your last beat down." Famine chuckled darkly.

"Of course he hasn't…that would require real strength." Conquest said a hint of acid in her voice. The final member stepped out of the light and stepped to stand behind and to the side of Lord Death. She appeared almost angelic compared to the other three. Her outfit was completely white with no accent color like the others. A golden crown like circlet adorned her head with a small antenna coming up from the front of it. Instead of carrying any weapons in place of the normal gloves worn by the others, they had been replaced by a pair of bracers and what appeared to be a form of brass knuckles only there were large spikes coming out of the knuckles that sparked with electricity. She glared at Nephrite with unveiled contempt.

"Once again Lord Death…I ask why have you interrupted my court." Beryl attempted to get the conversation back on track. The sooner she found out what he wanted the sooner she could get him to leave her in peace.

"Just here to remind you that your time for find the Moon Princess is running short. Tick tock, tick tock. Our true Queen will soon tire of your failures and then the Four Horsemen shall have to clean up your mess." Endymion chuckled as he glanced down at his left hand as if inspecting the armor for any defects or scratches. Satisfied that his armor was still in perfect condition he decided to really stick the knife in. "Of course if you were to ask nicely, I'm sure we could help you with that little rogue Shitennou of yours that you failed to turn."

Beryl seethed in anger at Endymion's cheap shot. It was to this date her greatest failure. When she had been awoken by her true Queen she had immediately set out to find the Shitennou. Of course she had awoken them all and brought them under her control but soon after Jadeite started to have issues. At first it was a minor rebellion here…ignoring an order there. It seemed to get worse every time he used his powers but then one day after he fought that accursed Sailor V something happened. He had deserted her and then started to actively fight back against her…and even worse some of his memories were unlocked. The brat even had attempted to turn Zoisite once though luckily it appeared no real harm had occurred since the man's powers were closely associated with ice the fire of Jadeite could not cut through to him.

Realizing that she had been lost in thought, Beryl brought up a quick retort to Lord Death's observation. "And how about your little rogue member? Weren't you supposed to be the Five Horsemen…I believe Famine refused to join you?" She chuckled darkly.

Lord Death leveled a steely glare at Queen Beryl before addressing his counterpart with an acidic tone. "Do not dare to question the Four Horsemen. She was unworthy to join the Horsemen. The damned girl's power was love…it was a weakness that we could not afford." Endymion spit out in contempt before turning his back to Beryl. "I take my leave Queen Beryl…but just remember if you do not deliver soon I shall step in…with or without your consent." Endymion raised his hand in a casual wave before turning to his fellow Horsemen. "Come along girls we must prepare for when the Queen's toy soldiers fall apart on her."

Beryl and Nephrite watched as the four disappeared from her throne room. While Nephrite silently seethed at the insults hurled at him, Beryl was fantasizing about boiling that jack ass alive in his own armor. How dare he come into her throne room and not only make light of her failures but tell her that he was all but taking over. She would have to speak with her Queen about him. The arrogant Lord would get his and she would make sure his little entourage suffered as well. Once she found that damned Moon Princess she would finally be the favored one.

"Nephrite." Beryl suddenly said which caught the Shitennou off guard.

"My Queen?" Nephrite responded coming out of his stupor with a slight shake of his head.

"I am counting on you to find the Princess and deal with her new Guardian. Just remember if you fail…I shall send Zoisite to help." Beryl stated with a small smirk.

"Of course my Queen." Nephrite responded with a slight frown before his disappeared from view and back to his room.

Beryl was left alone in her throne room. She had much to think about and many plans to make. She would find that Princess yet and make sure she paid dearly for the trouble she was causing.

Earth –

Usagi tossed and turned that night while she slept. Odd dreams that made no sense came to her both fleeting and surreal in nature. Eventually though the daylight delivered her from her odd dreams. The light of the morning sun started to peak through the curtain and though it didn't wake her up…her alarm sure did.

The moment the alarm started to go off Usagi felt around with one of her hands. Not even raising her head out of the mound of pillows she had built around her, Usagi finally found the cursed clock. A moment later it was into the wall. So…perhaps the alarm would fail but her little brother wouldn't!

"HEY!" Shingo banged on Usagi's door before needlessly kicking it open. "Come on Usa-baka! It's time to wake up!" Usagi's little brother had oddly blonde colored hair that didn't quite match a dirty blonde but nor did it match Usa's hair. In fact it just seemed to be a unique color. Not quite red, note quite blonde, and not quite brown. The tousle haired youngster took a running leap and body slammed his sister.

"AH!" Usagi cried in surprise from the sudden impact of her little brother knocking the wind out of her. Before she could respond Shingo was already up and running out the door before she could respond with anything but some muttered curses.

Finally dragging herself out of bed, Usagi glanced at her downed alarm clock and immediately panicked! How could she be late again? Oh Mrs. Neece was going to eviscerate her if she didn't get to school in time today. She stopped ruminating on her fate and got herself in gear. Quickly throwing on whatever she could find that half worked she was down the stairs in record time and almost out the door before her mother caught her by the back of the shirt.

"Usa…what have I told you about skipping breakfast!" Ikuko let a slightly exasperated sigh out at her daughter's inability to even attempt to care for herself even at sixteen. The girl was lucky to be alive at this point with her diet. She dragged her daughter back to the kitchen table and pointed at the chair with a glare. "SIT."

"Yes'um…" Usagi responded with only a small amount of chagrin in her voice. She looked down at the 'meal' her mother had prepared. Plain oatmeal and a glass of orange juice…was her mom trying to kill her! Now she would be late and she may die before she even got to her first class. She carefully poked the substance before looking up at her mom to see if she was watching.

She was. Ikuko just stood there watching her daughter to make sure she ate her breakfast. Normally Usagi managed to get out the door before she caught her but every once in a while she could get her before she had a chance to escape. "Faster you eat the faster you get to school."

Usagi looked around for help to her plight before she realized her father was still there. Success she may get to school on time yet. "Dad…can I be excused. I need to get to school." She could feel her mother's eyes boring into her skull but she managed to ignore it in favor of a response from her father.

Hidden behind his newspaper her father was sipping on his coffee completely unaware of the brewing fight he was about to be pulled into. Kenji finally realized that he was being talked to and put the paper down. He hadn't heard what had one on between the two but one look at Ikuko told him not to interfere…his wife may normally be a happy homemaker but the woman was scary when she had her mind set on something. He quickly retreated behind his newspaper again. "Listen to your mother, Usagi…and for the love of god do not get me involved in your fights. I've had enough nights on the sofa from when you were younger."

Usagi glanced back up at her mother again in hopes that perhaps she had given up but unfortunately she was silently waiting for her to finish her breakfast. Heaving a soft sigh of defeat, Usagi reluctantly decided to finish her breakfast…in record time. She poured the orange juice into the oatmeal before quickly mixing it together and then shoveling the concoction down her throat. She was unaware that her family was watching her with varying looks of terror and amazement of Usagi's irregular method of eating.

Kenji just smiled a little before going back to his newspaper. Shingo just stared in disgust and Ikuko just shook her head in defeat. Her daughter would never find a boyfriend that was for sure.

"Alright finished!" Usagi called before she was out the door and stampeding her way towards the school.

By some stretch of luck she managed to get to school with more time to spare than she expected. In fact this was the fastest she had ever run…for a moment she was wondering what the change was but her mind wandered to the previous night. With an iron will she shut down that thought process right then and there, she refused to think about that anymore. There was no way she was getting roped into fighting for real. Playing as Sailor V in video games was one thing but after last night she had her fill thank you!

"Usagi!" Naru called out to her with a look of surprise on her face. "What are you doing here so early?"

"Umm…I guess I just got up early is all. Usagi responded with a laugh.

"Really?" Naru raised her eyebrow in disbelief before shaking it off and offering her best friend a smile. "Well whatever your reasoning it's nice to see you here so early. Have you met the new transfer student yet? Cause he is absolutely dreamy." Naru had closed the distance at this point and started dragging her towards the new guy. She just had to introduce Usagi to him the guy was a senior and was soooo nice.

Naru proceeded to happily drag Usa along against her will. "Come on I got to talk to him and the moment I mentioned you he got suuuuuper interested." Naru turned her head to face Usagi and sent her a sly wink. "Maybe he saw you yesterday and is interested." The red haired girl teased in a good natured tone.

"Yeah right!" Usagi automatically retorted but something was telling her this was going to be a bad thing. If she wasn't trying to completely forget about last night she may have realized just who Naru was taking her to see and what she had told Jadeite last night. Instead Usagi blindly followed Naru and continued to chat with her best friend about homework and what Mrs. Neece would do when Usagi got to class on time for once. It may give her teacher a heart attack.

"There he is!" Naru excited voice brought Usagi out of her fantasies regarding everything that Mrs. Neece would say to her about how proud she was. The red haired girl pulled her friend towards Jadeite who happened to be surrounded by women on almost all sides. This brought a frown to Usagi's face…she really disapproved of playboys and always hated that they took advantage of young gullible women. Well she would be having none of it if he tried anything on her that was for sure!

Jadeite laughed politely at a joke one of the girl's told him. An easy going smile spreading across his face as he cheerfully bolstered the girl's ego with his honeyed words. "Really Elsa…you are just too much. But I can't thank you enough. How did I get so lucky as to have such a wonderful group of young women willing to accept the transfer student? I can tell you that I have had some chilly receptions." Jadeite laughed a little before his trademark easy smile came back. He met each of the girl's eyes and just winked at one or two when they blushed. He kept a dejected sigh from leaving his lips and instead mentally cursed his fate. Unfortunately fighting the Dark Kingdom came with a lack of love life.

Just as he was about to regal the girls with another made up story of his past school life he caught sight of Naru…and the girl behind her must be Usagi. He almost couldn't believe it had been as easy as this. Earlier this morning he had run into Naru and after chatting with her for a few minutes the girl disclosed about how her friend Usagi is always late and would totally be jealous she was missing out on this. Of course he inquired as to who this Usagi was and if there were other girls with the name in the school. He wove a masterful tale of meeting a girl named Usagi last night that went to the school and how he'd love to talk to her again.

It appeared that Naru had found the story genuine and was bringing Usagi over. He studied Usagi out of the corner of his eyes while carrying a conversation with one of the girls. It was a fairly quick confirmation but yes that was indeed the girl he met last night…the new Sailor Senshi that he had to convince to not only work with him but teach how to fight. This was going to be a challenge…at least Minako was both willing to fight and had been trained by her cat…of course the training had been questionable.

Not wanting to be rude to the entourage he had easily gathered he plastered a smile on his face and slowly got up. "I'm sorry ladies…we shall have to continue later. I have an old friend to catch up with. If I don't see you girls at lunch I am sure I'll have some of you in classes and see you in the mornings." He just raised his hands and moved them in a calming motion as if requesting that they lower their voices at the 'awws' and 'don't go!' he got. He smiled in sympathy. "Thank you girls…really I mean it. I would be lost without you guys. I am sure I'll catch up with all of you."

After finally disengaging himself completely he walked over to a starry eyed Naru and an angry Usagi. He just smiled at the two before making a flourish of a bow to Naru and kissing the top of her hand. "Good to see you again Miss. Naru." He had a talent for names it was part of the reason that despite his quick and fiery temper at times he had been the spy master prior to the fall of the Silver Millennium. With his charm, good lucks, and disarming personality he could weasel information out of just about anyone.

After he had greeted Naru again he turned to Usa with an easy smile. "And you must be Usagi…I told Naru here of my plight. I informed her that I met a girl named Usagi last night and I just had to see her again. You see you have been on my mind all of last night…I just couldn't stop thinking of you. She was most helpful and informed me that there was but one Usagi at this school."

Naru sighed with hearts practically in her eyes. "How romantic…it is like Cinderella."

"It is most certainly not like Cinderella." Usagi felt her eyebrow twitching as she responded hotly to her friend's comparison. She may normally be a bit of a whiny brat and lazy sometimes…even she could admit her worst faults but this creep was downright terrible. He was completely different from last night and was a complete player! If there was one thing she hated were two faced liars and it seemed that Jadeite fit the bill. He changed his personality to take advantage of young innocent girls and didn't seem to be bothered at all that he spilled more lies than truth from his lips. "Care to talk in private...Mister Cool."

"Your wish is my command, Princess." Jadeite responded in a happy tone but his smile seemed to mock her slightly.

At his words she seized up for a moment. An odd memory from last night's dreams coming to the foreground but before she could grasp at the image and what it may mean it was gone.

"Are you alright?" Jadeite asked with a raised eyebrow. He waved his hand in front of her face. "Earth to Usagi…"

"Fine…" Usagi trailed off before shaking her head. "Just…a weird memory…I don't know. It was gone before I could grasp it."

"Ah." A slightly more serious look crossed his face at the information. He gently led her away from prying eyes as he glanced at his watch. Five minutes before class started…he'd have to talk to her fast. Once he got her alone and away from some of the loitering students he turned to Usagi again. He dropped his voice to a whisper. "Those memories…they will keep coming. They'll make more sense in time but sometimes the oddest phrases will trigger a flash."

"Well I don't want to remember." Usagi responded hotly as she leveled a glare at the arrogant jerk of a man. "I just want to go back to normal and forget that ever happened. Now are you going to leave me alone or what?"

"No…because I need you baka." Jadeite responded with a slight glare. "And you need me."

"I do not need you. You two faced jerk!" Usagi hissed in response trying to keep her voice from turning into a yell. The blonde girl while normally not imposing could generate a terrifying aura when truly enraged. "I just want to be left alone!"

"Well I don't care if you want to be left alone or not." Jadeite responded in a menacing tone. "I need you to help me find my King by killing those Youma and you need my help to help you from being killed."

"I won't need your help because I'm not fighting anymore." Usagi responded with finality in her tone.

"That may be fine for you but the Dark Kingdom won't give a shit if you want to fight or not." Jadeite responded hotly. "You're already on their radar and they won't stop till they find and eliminate you. They registered you as a threat the moment they saw you kill that Youma!"

"How would they know!" Usagi responded before poking Jadeite in the chest. "Unless you told them?! You jerk! How could you do something so underhanded to get me to help you?!"

Jadeite brushed her hand away before leaning in towards Usagi. The normal jadeite colored eyes seemed to smolder with an intense fire as he stared her down. "Listen here you baka. Those Youma send real time feed back to their masters so the moment you appeared they knew about you. The moment they watched you kill the Youma they started up a hunt to find and eliminate you."

"Well how would you know all this?" Usagi responded a tad suspiciously. The man had not really done much to gain her trust or show that he spoke in anything but lies. Clearly she was skeptical over the entire situation…she was lazy not stupid but when it came to her life…well her mind was working overtime.

"I am a spy master." Jadeite responded simply a small smirk crossing his lips. "How do you think I got all those girls to hang off me? I pull the charming transfer student from another country routine and I'm in. I'm new and exotic…sexy even." He dropped the last part to a whisper and made a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows.

Usagi felt herself color slightly but refused to be dissuaded. "Well I don't care what you were or who you are. I refuse to fight. I almost died last night!"

"You wouldn't if you learned your power or would you like to get your ass beat into the ground when they find you?" Jadeite countered with a raised eyebrow.

The minute bell rang and Usagi gave him one last final glare. "The answer is still no! Now I gotta go…don't bother me ever again!" She called over her shoulder as she ran towards her class.

"Sure Princess…sure." Jadeite said to himself with a slight shake of his head. So the little spitfire would be a little harder to convince…well that was fine. He was pretty damn persistent especially when it was something he cared about and he was going to find his King. With a slight shake of his head Jadeite made his way to his own classroom.

Usagi was walking home from her normal stop at the arcade. She had counted herself lucky. The remainder of the day the arrogant jerk stayed away and thankfully appeared to heed her warning. At some point she lost Naru to him during lunch but it was a loss she was willing to accept to keep away from the two faced prick. Seriously was it a problem with every guy that they didn't take no for an answer.

Finally she arrived home and threw the door open with a smile. Her mom wouldn't be yelling at her today. No detention…no problem at least that is what she thought. Usa was about to call out to announce her arrival home when she heard voices in the kitchen…had they started dinner without her really? How rude! She thought with a huff.

She was almost to the kitchen when she heard a voice she would have never expected in her own home of all things! She visibly paled and felt an oncoming panic attack from what she was hearing.

"And that is how I ended up here in Japan Mrs. Tsukino." Jadeite's voice floated out from the kitchen.

"Oh call me Ikuko. If you are going to be helping my little Usa then you have to call me by my name at the least. I really can't thank you enough for arranging this Jadeite." Ikuko responded before her voice elevated to catch her husband's attention. "Isn't it wonderful Kenji…Usagi finally got a tutor. I am so proud of her."

"Just don't touch my Usa…you touch her you'll be a dead man honor roll student or not." Kenji's voice had lowered a little at that threat.

"Of course not Mr. Tsukino…this is strictly professional do not worry. I will make sure to keep you appraised of all progress we make. Let me be the first to assure you that while your daughter is quite beautiful she is safe with me." Jadeite responded in a calm voice.

"Kenji! He is trying to help our Usa get into a good University. I have a good feeling about him and I want him to keep coming back. There is no way he can work in a hostile environment or would you rather he tutor your daughter at his house?" Ikuko threatened.

"Fine…fine you can work here…I won't bother you but I swear…one air out of place…" Kenji trailed off.

"Of course Mr. Tsukino, on my honor your daughter will be safe from me and any other ruffians we would run into." Jadeite responded.

"What!" Kenji practically screamed. "What ruffians! I won't let my daughter out into the middle of the night to become a ruffian!"

"Mr. Tsukino…I would not dare let Usagi become such." Jadeite responded in his proper and upper class tone that he had adopted for the situation. "It is just that we may have to volunteer in the city as part of our class credit and it would look good on our college applications."

"See dear…he is only thinking of Usa's entrance exams just as he said." Ikuko set about calming Kenji's ruffled feathers so to speak over the situation. "How about a nice shoo fly pie for dessert…your favorite."

"Well…alright…" Kenji responded. "But don't think you can win me over with your cooking every time!"

Great Usagi thought…now that creep had won her parents over. She was going to transform and murder that idiot. Training bedamned the sword was a pretty damn easy interface. Point and stab until Jadeite stops screaming or bleeding out…whichever comes first. Even better her parents would never know! I mean if she came running in like a wild woman he'd never have a chance. Her shoulders sagged a little…who was she kidding? She didn't even know how to transform.

After drawing herself back up to her full height, Usagi steeled herself for a fight she was going to call that jerk out and humiliate him right in front of her parents! That way he'd be forced to leave in shame and at least her Dad would be on her side once she exposed the lie. With a small nod to herself she let out one last breath and walked into the kitchen her eyes searching out Jadeite before finding him. "You!"

"Usagi!" Ikuko cried out in surprise over her daughter's venomous tone. Kenji looked up in surprise before looking between Usagi and Jadeite. He had not expected his sweet daughter to be so angry. Shingo was just bouncing in his chair waiting with a superior smile on his face for the inevitable blow up when Usa was told about her assigned tutor.

"Me." Jadeite acknowledged with an easy going smile on his face. He didn't bother to get up from his chair since he expected a reaction like this when she finally got him. In fact after he managed to get Usagi's address from Naru, he went to Usagi's teacher Mrs. Neece and floated the idea. A sour look almost crossed his face at that. Usagi's teacher was sharp and had not been drawn in by his charming personality. In the end he gotten her blessing but he had a feeling the teacher thought he liked Usagi now…erg.

"What do you think you're doing in my house and how did you even get here!?" Usagi half yelled and half demanded. She was mad as hell and didn't even acknowledge anyone else in the room.

"I'm your new tutor. I spoke with your friend Naru and she told me how concerned she was that you wouldn't make it to University. I happened to mention to her that I was a brilliant student and would be more than willing to help such a nice young lady like you." A patronizing smile flashed across Jadeite's face for a fraction of a second. So fast that only Usagi caught it from the look in her eyes. Jadeite let the easy going smile take over again as he continued in a clam voice. "Of course I cleared it with Mrs. Neece first."

"Ah ha!" Usagi crowed in triumph. "You're a fraud there is no way you're an honor student!" She knew that her only hope was getting her Father on her side so she turned to appeal to the dark haired man. "Daddy you've gotta kick him out he's a transfer student and we can't even confirm that he is who he says he is. He told me today that he's gonna make me do something I don't wanna do. I think he's trying to get me alone…so he can…take advantage of me…" Usagi ended with a fake shudder and half sob.

"WHAT!" Kenji practically screamed before rounding on Jadeite ready to rip this hooligan apart. No one came into Kenji Tsukino's home and threatened his daughter without going through him first. "Is this true? If it is you better hope you're a track runner because I have no qualms about running you over with my car!"

"Usagi you apologize right now!" Ikuko responded on the other end of the spectrum. She hadn't been Usa's mother for near eighteen years without knowing her daughter. Unlike Kenji she didn't have blinders on when it came to her daughter. If Usa thought she could get out of something she had no problem manipulating her father's overprotective nature to get out of it. Unfortunately Kenji fell for it every time.

"Mr. Tsukino…and Ikuko…a moment of your time and I believe I can put to rest these baseless accusations." Jadeite responded calmly but that shouldn't be a surprise when one considered that he fought towering monsters on a daily basis. He reached into his bag and withdrew his transcripts from France…hey how do you think he met Minako. With a flourish he presented the information to Kenji. He knew when to keep the smile off his face or it looked too much like gloating. So he dropped the smile and adopted a serious look. "Here you are…all of my classes. As you can see honor roll since High School started and of course I am currently taking College credits. Those results are also included."

Kenji practically ripped the records from the young man's hand, intent on confirming his daughter's story. He immediately scoured the documents looking for any hint of a B or C but he found none. In fact he soon realized just what Jadeite meant by college courses. The young man must have been a genius…advanced engineering…even international political science and some detailed history classes. A begrudging respect was formed as he handed the documents back. "Well…everything checks out…you seem to be a better tutor than I could ever hope for, for my little Usa." Kenji glared at his daughter for once actually putting his foot down. "Usagi you apologize right now. If this young man helps motivate you I don't care if he is here every night."

"Buuuut Dad." Usagi whined. There was no way she would apologize to that giant jerk.

Ikuko meanwhile looked over the records with stars in her eyes. This boy was perfect…perfect, perfect, perfect! Oh he would be quite the son in law that was for certain. She let out a small sigh already fantasizing about the wedding. What a story to tell the grandchildren not to mention Anna at book club would be so jealous. Oh she would remind Anna every month about her daughter's wonderful husband and how they were changing the world. She could already picture the mission trips to help other people and of course the inventions to help the world. Yes…this would do nicely. Shaking herself out of her fantasy land she handed the transcripts back with a smile before returning to the stove. "Alright everyone dinner is ready!"

Dinner passed quickly with Kenji starting to warm up to Jadeite now that he knew for sure his daughter wasn't going to turn into a thug. Ikuko kept fantasizing about the day the two would start dating and Shingo…well Shingo proceeded to torment Usagi at every turn in the conversation. Finally Usagi continued to make biting remarks while Jadeite just kept smiling that bedamned easy going smile of his as if nothing bothered them. It was finally after dinner and Jadeite had strong armed her into leaving the house with him for their tutoring session…which is what brought them to the park.

"I won't do it." Usagi said with a glare directed at what was her nemesis. It was official the arrogant jerk had made it to the list. She would fight him tooth and nail on everything from here on out. How dare her turn her own parents against her!

"And I'm telling you…transform or I am going to start hurling fire balls at you, you little whiny brat." Jadeite responded with his own hard glare. The easy going smile was gone replaced by an unhappy frown. There was no way he was going to let a petulant teenager stop him from his mission but unfortunately he needed said petulant teenager on board to a certain extent.

"You wouldn't dare!" Usagi shrieked back in disbelief. She couldn't believe he was actually threatening her now! To her satisfaction the jerk winced from the shrill quality of her voice.

"I would because that is exactly what the Dark Kingdom would do. If you don't learn how to fight now they'll find you and kill you." Jadeite responded with his ever present frown since the start of the conversation pulling down at the side of his lips.

"Well they won't find me if I don't fight!" Usagi countered.

"Yes they will baka. They already were drawn to you because of your energy once. Unless you learn how to control your transformation they are going to track you down and kill your entire family before hooking you up like a god damn battery." Jadeite growled with a harsh edge to his words.

"I won't do it! They'll be safe." Usagi shook her head in denial. She didn't want to think about one of those monsters coming after her.

Jadeite suddenly went still before he swung his head towards the South. He felt a sudden energy source…and it was coming right for them. Even more concerning he felt another following the first and one to the West…clearly Nephrite was out to see how powerful the new scout was. He turned back to Usagi with a sympathetic glance. "Well that is too damn bad. I just picked up two Youma and possibly a third coming towards us."

"What!" Usagi gasped before looking at Jadeite. "But…how do you know they're coming towards us?"

"Your aura is like a god damn bon fire since you transformed. Now you better figure out how to do it and fast." Jadeite commented before he closed his eyes briefly before raising his hand to the air with his fingers spread out. "Flames of the Eastern Empire! Aid me now in my time of need!" With a shout he suddenly disappeared in a column of fire. Just as quickly as the blast of fire appeared it disappeared just as quickly leaving Jadeite behind in his Shitennou uniform. A confident smirk came to Jadeite's face before he formed his katana again out of the fire between his hands.

"How do I transform?" Usagi cried in urgency…there was no way she wanted to die because she couldn't transform.

"Hell if I know…you're a Sailor Senshi, you figure it out." Jadeite smirked.

"You said you'd help me and this is not helping!" Usagi stomped her foot in anger.

"Well…" Jadeite paused a moment as he tried to think about how Minako transformed. "Hmm…Sailor V…she used to call out something stupid like Venus power or something."

"Right!" Usagi nodded before grasping the small silver chain and the sword. "Venus! Power!" She screamed…expecting to transform once more…but of course nothing happened. Not even a little budge of power actually.

"Yeah…that isn't going to work, baka. Her powers are tied to Venus…I would say try the Moon. Your sword was completely Moon themed." Jadeite responded with a roll of his eyes. He left Usa to her attempts to transform because the two enemies were upon them. Two Youma burst out of the trees…both appeared cat like. He quickly studied the forms a frown crossing his face. The two creatures were much lighter than anything Nephrite made…in fact they appeared to be built for speed and tactical strikes. Great, Zoisite must have decided to step in and that meant bad things for both Usagi and him. If it had been Nephrite's work they would be too dumb to realize that one human was fighting them. Now he had to fight two and they would quickly realize Usagi was essentially crippled meaning he'd be on defense.

"You better transform quick!" Jadeite called back to her as he sent a wave of fire with a swipe of his hand but he didn't bother to wait for the result he was already in motion. He twisted his sword around to bring it down in a diagonal strike. Of course the creatures just phased out of view before he could even hope to hit them. With a growl he rolled forward to avoid getting slashed in the back when one of the creatures reappeared behind him. He came out of the roll just in time to counter the strike of the one going after him…crap the other one…it was almost on Usagi. No time to assist her though, Jadeite was barely able to keep up with the monster that attempted to strike at his weak points.

Usagi stared in disbelief as the creatures faded in an out of her sight. What was she supposed to do against these things? She still couldn't even transform and she quickly realized the predicament she was in. If she didn't transform she would actually be killed…this wasn't fair! She didn't sign up for this! "Leave me alone!" She shrieked as the Youma not occupying Zoisite appeared above her and came down towards her with claws extended ready to rend her head from her body.

Two things happened at once. The first was that Usagi started to transform…the second was that the power signature from the West appeared in a golden flash.

"Crescent Beam!" A voice yelled from above the participants of the fight. A wave of yellow colored energy rocketed down and smashed into the creature in mid-air. It sent the creature flying into a nearby tree with a thud.

Sailor V had appeared and landed with a smile before standing in her traditional pose. The attack allowed enough time for Jadeite to regroup with the two Senshi and for Usa to complete her transformation armor and all. While the attack had disrupted the attack pattern of the creatures the two cat like Youma regrouped as well.

"I am Sailor Venus! In the name of the love that exists in this world I must punish you! Lay down your arms and accept the love and kindness of other or prepare to fight!" Sailor Venus called out.

"Should I be doing that?" Usagi asked Jadeite while Venus was finishing up her speech.

"What? No!" Jadeite responded hotly. "Seriously don't encourage her…she does that all the time.

"But you do it too…" Usagi trailed off with a hint of confusion in her voice.

"Yes but I don't rip my announcements off from a Saturday morning cartoon show for kids." Jadeite responded with a roll of his eyes.

"HEY!" Sailor Venus seethed. "I do the best I can with what I got! Now are you gonna help me or what Jadeite!"

"Against my better judgment...yes." Jadeite responded before he rushed towards the Youma he was fighting earlier. He had worked with Sailor V…or Venus as she was calling herself now that he knew she would take care of the other one. He brought his sword across in a wide arc and let loose a blast of fire. He didn't bother waiting before sending a wave of fire out from his free hand. While the Youma managed to dodge the attack from the sword it was caught in the gut by the blast of fire from his hand. A grin crossed his face…this is why he loved Zoisite…smart as hell but his creatures were crap compared to Nephrite's creations. While Nephrite carefully crafted specific Youma for his opponents, Zoisite coveted intelligence and made his Youma so that they could learn attack patterns of the enemy. On most fighters it worked, the creatures would draw the fighter out until the Youma learned the attack pattern of the enemy and then it would strike. While most fighters would eventually fall to such a method of attack since it was hard to change your natural pattern of attack it left them vulnerable to people like him. Unpredictable fighters could cut through them like they were butter once they got a chance to surprise the Youma. There was nothing to predict because Jadeite made it all up on the fly. New combinations were tested and tried.

Usagi stared at the two fighters in awe. This Sailor Venus looked a lot like Sailor V and seemed to share some attacks but maybe it was a Sailor thing? She wanted to help though! If she didn't fight these things would keep coming after her and possibly kill her! She spotted her chance to help. Sailor Venus and Jadeite had just finished kicking both their targets into the same tree.

She raised the giant broad sword and felt it glow with power. After letting the power course through her body and into her feet along with her sword she took off towards the two downed creatures. "Lunar Rush!" She felt compelled to scream out before just like last time she phased out of existence and reappeared a few feet from the two creatures.

Both creatures only had moments to realize that they were in peril. A white line of power surrounded both of their midsections from the cut. Right before their sides burst open and black ichor sprayed the surrounding area they managed to upload the data of this new Sailor to Zoisite through the shared hive mind of all Youma. The data transfer completed just before they disappeared in a wave of power and left behind nothing but dust. They were but scouts…fairly weak and only meant to be killed by this new Senshi to judge her power and thanks to Usagi's need to help her friends the goal was accomplished. Now the Dark Kingdom would know all about her.

Sailor Venus turned toward the two with a large smile on her face. "Thanks Jadeite!" She paused briefly as she realized the girl she had saved was indeed a scout as well. The only thing was that the girl did not match any memories she had of any scouts that wore armor and carried a sword other than the Outers and this girl was not Sailor Uranus that was for sure. "Umm…who are you?"

"I'm Usagi…who are you?" Usagi asked with a slight cock of her head. She knew she had introduced herself as Sailor Venus but she looked so familiar.

"I am Sailor Venus better known as Sailor V!" Sailor Venus declared with a smile.

A/N: I hope this was a good chapter. Please review and post your thoughts and feelings. I responded to all my reviews I believe but again thank you to Starlit Warrior, Serene Amethyst, Secrets, Ascella Star, Xxkirbylover11xX, Shibue Miyuu, and Lady Tsumetai for convincing me to continue. I had debated on bringing Minako in later but she is so fun to write I couldn't wait to bring her in. I also kinda think since it is gonna be 3 on 7 not counting Beryl they will need all the help they can get. Again concerns questions or issues please let me know.


	3. A Night at the Carnival part 1

A/N: Hello all...I know I am kinda ignoring my other stories but I have been having so much fun with this story and the reviews have been motivating me to continue with it. Not to mention I kinda have writer's block on my other big story. Anyway thanks again for the reviews guys! It really means a lot to me. And thanks again for pointing out my errors and grammatical issues. I have since bullied/asked/begged Fleury's Apprentice70 into Betaing for me. I can only assume I managed to convince her that it was a good call and she didn't fully understand how terrible my grammar is. I want to thank her for putting up with me. I hereby affirm any errors you find are due to my artistic license clashing with facts.

Chapter 3: A night at the carnival, part 1

The Dark Kingdom –

Mamoru strolled through the door that led to the main room that he and the other Sailors used as their meeting room. Due to his influence and power within the Dark Kingdom he had acquired a personal wing for the group away from the low level creatures. Beryl and her Generals had much the same set up due to their current favored status. A dark chuckle escaped his lips. Of course, that was not going to last very long. Not with how impatient and foolish Beryl tended to be.

The room he entered was in itself large. It had a high ceiling with a crystal chandelier that radiated light from high above. Since they hardly spent time in there, the furnishing was sparse. In the far corner there was the kitchen that was modern. It may have been surprising, but then again, when you can use energy to construct what you desire well let's just say it certainly doesn't hurt. The remaining space was dominated by a large table with six chairs though only five of them were ever in use at one time since one of their numbers never joined them.

It didn't take him long to find what he was looking for in there. It sat on one of the chairs. A slight smirk crossed his face when he finally spotted his quarry…well sitting wasn't quite correct. He cleared his throat a little and wiped the amused look from his face. It wouldn't do to make the rather prim and proper cat think that he found her current situation amusing. Sure enough the cat was currently in "her" chair curled up in a little ball snoring. Behold the face of evil and know its name, Mamoru thought with a stifled chuckle. Once more he attempted to awaken her with a subtle clearing of his throat before he decided to go for the most direct approach. The last thing he wanted was another fight between Rei and Luna. The two certainly went at it when they came to a disagreement. "Luna…we're back."

Luna unfurled herself slowly; putting her front legs out in a stretch before looking up at Mamoru with tired eyes. She blinked slowly, attempting to recalibrate her brain. Finally after a full ten seconds she was up and more or less functioning. She huffed slightly when she caught the corners of his lips turned upwards. Dammit he had caught her snoring again, she just knew it. With a slight glare she pulled herself up to a sitting position in her special chair. While everyone else had human sized chairs her chair was cat sized and had been set higher so she could sit eyelevel with everyone else. "Did you find out anything about Beryl's progress?"

Mamoru shook his head slightly. They hadn't.

The main door to the hall opened with a hiss before the remaining Horsemen started to file in from the hallway. He gave a slight nod to the others before he continued with his report to Luna while the rest of the Horsemen took their seats. "She did not brag as she normally does but it appears that a new Sailor Senshi has appeared. Beryl believes her to be a Guardian of the Princess. Due to that she also believes that the Princess is nearby."

"It would make sense," Rei said as she sat down in her seat that was next to Mamoru's. No longer was she powered up as War but dressed in a simple shrine maiden's outfit that harkened back to what she normally wore when she worked at her grandfather's temple prior to her awakening. She shot a small smile towards Mamoru before expanding her argument, showing once more that while she may not have the brains of Ami, she was still clever. "We were after all reborn in the same area."

"Yes. But don't you find it odd that if the Queen was so worried about her daughter's safety, that she would have both those of us of the Dark Kingdom and those loyal to the Moon reborn in the same area?" Ami reasoned out a slight frown on her face. She spent much of her time in the library trying to find a way to fill the holes that they all had in their memories. She was dressed in a traditional blue blouse that was buttoned up to her throat along with a long ribbed skirt of the same color. Her blue hair matched the skirt in color. In fact, most of her coloring choices went along with the ice powers that complimented her true form of Famine. After all, how else does one cause famine than to freeze the crops.

"Who cares?" Makoto said with a roll of her eyes. She took her seat by Ami and cracked her knuckles with a small grin on her face. "I say we go down there and test our powers against the Princess. I for one want to take a crack at this new Guardian of hers." No longer powered up as Conquest, Makoto now wore a simple green tee that matched her forest green eyes and a pair of blue jeans.

"No, we still don't know enough," Luna advised sagely. Her eyes closed briefly before she made eye contact with each of her four charges. It was odd considering how self-assured the four were yet they came to her for guidance and advice. Then again she was the one that had found and awoken all of them. "I refuse to lose any of you now to an ill planned move on our part."

"Agreed," Mamoru added with finality in his tone. "We let Beryl scout out this new Senshi. If she is the Guardian to the Princess she will be powerful. We study the losses that Beryl takes and then we adjust a plan to eliminate the threat."

"Luna?" Ami asked a note of hesitation in her voice. "I don't remember just one Guardian for the Princess." She felt an odd jarring at that. It was just a feeling but for some reason four felt right. That of course didn't make sense from what Luna told them when she had awoken. The Moon Kingdom, in an act of aggression, had started an all-out war in the final days of the Silver Millennium. Of course the four inner planets and Prince Endymion from Earth had united together to put down the upstart kingdom of the Moon. This was further confirmed when Luna had restored their memories. "For some reason…I…don't know." A look of distress briefly crossed her face. She hated feeling confused and lost. It was not something she was used to.

Makoto glanced over at Ami before placing her hand over Ami's and gave her a gentle comforting squeeze. She knew that her friend generally overthought situations and tended to ruminate on the smallest details. Due to this she tended to have the worst flashbacks of the group. Flashbacks of things that didn't match up with the memories that Luna unlocked and the ones that showed her actually helping the Moon Kingdom. Of course Ami had shared her concerns and unfortunately the best that Luna could come up with is that Queen Serenity had attempted to turn her enemies into protectors of her daughter. Who better to protect her daughter than those that had tried to kill her? If they died in service of Princess Serenity then Moon Kingdom still won out in the end. "Don't worry Ami, it is just Serenity again. False memories. You are doing the right thing. Remember what they did to your planet. What she did to all of our planets."

Rei nodded in support of Makoto, a small smile resting on her face. "Ami just remember you're the smartest of us all. The one most likely to apply logic and reason to a situation and Queen Serenity must have known this. Just like she targeted Minako's pure heart and Artemis's loyalty to turn them against us, she probably planted memories that she knew would potentially cause you to question your real memories." She herself had her own issues. Visions of the future. She was given visions of a future where she and the other Horsemen were allies of the Queen and it had Mamoru—sometimes with the new Queen Serenity and sometimes with her but none of it made any sense to Rei. She shook her head and found herself subconsciously reaching for Mamoru.

Mamoru shot his lover a small comforting smile before squeezing her hand. She was thinking about those odd visions again. It seemed that Queen Serenity had targeted each of them in their own unique way. Mamoru shot a questioning glance to their cat. "Luna, have you gotten any closer to finding a way to remove these false memories that have been planted in our heads by Queen Serenity?"

Luna shook her head with a slight sigh. A look of regret passed by her face that said she could not help her charges or herself. Their strength had been their close bond once unshakable until Minako and Artemis turned. Now they all worried that one day one of them would be tempted by the memories, each secretly suspicious but unwilling to say it out loud. Even she worried that one day the memories' temptations would be too much. The memories were full of love and comfort, even of friendship with the Princess. "Unfortunately I haven't made any headway on my project but hold strong. We will best her at her own game. We must each be thankful that the Princess did not find us first," Luna said. Luna's thoughts went back to the dark shadow that had awoken her and had given her the mission to awaken the other Horsemen. It had told her of Queen Serenity's plan to turn their power to her own use. Queen Serenity was a shrewd one, that was for sure, but this time her gambit wouldn't pay off. Luna would make sure of it.

"Well I hope you can figure it out soon Luna, it would be good to have Minako back with us. I still can't believe she was so weak," Makoto growled while clenching her fist in anger. It still pissed her off that they had lost their leader and their other mentor. While they had not yet met Minako, or as she liked to call herself in battle "Sailor V", the team leader caused quite a bit of trouble for Beryl.

Ami nodded in support of Makoto's plan before looking to Mamoru who became their defacto leader without Minako around. "Mamoru I believe while it is in our best interest to let Beryl sacrifice her incompetent Shitennou and waste her limited power to find the Moon Princess, we should perhaps take a more proactive approach to finding the Princess ourselves in a way that will not put us in danger."

"What would you propose Ami?" Mamoru raised an eyebrow normally Ami was not one to suggest anything unless it was well thought out. She was not one to rush headlong into something.

The other girls and Luna also looked on with interest at their comrade.

Ami felt a small blush rise to her face at the attention suddenly directed on her by all of her friends. After nervously clearing her throat, she laid out her plan before she froze up from the attention: "We know the Princess to be about our age. It would reason if she is still unaware of her identity then she should be still attending a High School in the area. I propose that each of us attend a different school in the area and attempt to locate the Princess. If we wait a while longer we can use Beryl to narrow down the probable districts that the Princess would be based on where her forces engage this new Guardian. Then each of us will take one of the High Schools in the area. Mamoru, due to your advanced age," she couldn't help a smirk crossing her face at the dirty look the slightly older man gave her before she continued, "You will have to attend a College for cover, but you can be our roaming eye in case we miss anything."

"Hm," Mamoru nodded in agreement of the plan. "I think the idea has some merit, Ami, and we shall go ahead with it. Of course, we shall refine it a bit but for now we should each start working on a civilian identity. Luna, please start working on compiling a list of High Schools in the area of the first encounter with this new Guardian. Beryl will surely get impatient and send out Youma in force shortly to attempt to draw the Guardian out. After we narrow down the probably locations we will pick out the schools most likely to correlate with the location of the Princess's Guardian. Once we find that Guardian we will surely find the Princess."

The group stayed at the table for a little while longer going over the specifics of their plan before breaking apart. Luna disappeared to start gathering the information on the schools. Makoto disappeared to get some physical training in with the Youma on the base loyal to their faction— one would not put it past Beryl to try and kill one of the Four Horsemen in a training "accident" through one of her youmas. And finally Rei disappeared into her room to consult the fire. It left Mamoru alone at the table to ruminate on the meeting and what it may mean that a new Sailor had appeared that none of them remembered.

Dark Kingdom –

Nephrite stared up at the stars with a frown on his face as he attempted to read the future. Once more nothing specific came back to him and what did come back appeared muddled and disjointed. He could feel a great revival that would occur soon but there was so much chaos involved. The paths available changed by the minute and none seemed to hold sway over another. All he knew was that that damn Jadeite was involved. From what he could read the second youngest Shitennou after Zoisite would be the cause of much of this upheaval.

Then there was the Princess that they currently were trying to find. She was completely obscured by the stars for him. No doubt it was the protection of the Queen that kept any information on her vague. The most he got out was blonde hair, but of course even in Japan that did little to help. A loud bang disrupted his concentration and he watched in frustration as the stars seemed to wink out of existence above him from his observatory. An annoyed frown came to his face upon seeing who had interrupted him. "Zoisite, you know not to interrupt me."

"This is important," Zoisite stressed with a hiss. The man, despite his intelligence, was quick to temper just like Jadeite. But whereas Jadeite could at least hold it in when needed, Zoisite had a tendency to allow his anger rule him. He had just reviewed the information from his scouts and did not like it at all. Not only had that new Senshi terminated his scouts with surprising ease, but that bitch Sailor V had appeared as well.

With a long suffering sigh Nephrite waved his hand to indicate that Zoisite should continue. It would take more time to reconnect with the stars than it was worth for the night now that he had lost connection. "Well get on with it. I know you're just burning up with excitement," He commented sardonically.

"Listen here jackass; I am just trying to help you!" Zoisite responded with a glare. He was in no mood to deal with Nephrite's holier than thou bullshit. The man had the same calm demeanor as Kunzite but whereas Kunzite never let any emotion onto his face or into his words, Nephrite made a game of using biting sarcasm to make his points.

"Fine, fine. So what did your little scouts learn?" Nephrite attempted to keep the boredom out of his voice. He failed. Really, he found it such a waste of time to scout out your opposition. Instead of scouting his enemy out he simply created the strongest Youma he could and sent it out. If it failed the enemy was clearly stronger than he anticipated. If it succeeds then it was a good enough mission accomplished. He put more faith in the guidance of the stars than he did any Youma. The creatures were muscle at best no matter how smart Zoisite claimed them to be. He let a small smirk cross his face when he realized he was getting to Zoisite. The younger Shitennou was practically twitching in rage.

"My little scouts, as you so eloquently put them," Zoisite growled in annoyance. "Confirmed that that little trollup from France has not only followed you here, but appears to have linked up with Jadeite again. To make matters worse, that new Senshi is an actual threat."

"Of course she's a threat," Nephrite rolled his eyes before mocking Zoisite in a condescending tone. "I know this must be hard for you to understand but she is a Sailor Senshi that no one remembers. Clearly she is a Guardian that good old Queen Serenity created to protect her precious daughter. I will send my next Youma down as planned. I will go down personally to observe the battle when the little brat comes to save the day if she is anything like that annoying Sailor V."

"You still aren't listening," Zoisite had to hold himself back from stomping his foot in annoyance. The second Shitennou was notoriously stubborn and rarely took console from anyone other than the damned stars. Zoisite could never understand it but of course whenever he appealed to Kunzite or Beryl they just told him to leave Nephrite be and go about his own business. Of course the main reason Zoisite continued to try to help Nephrite was not because he was a nice person but he knew if Nephrite failed, it would be up to him to clean up the idiot's mess.

"Of course I'm not," Nephrite chuckled before he looked up towards the darkened sky, a faint smile resting on his face. "I only need but to consult the stars to learn my fate and the fate of the Dark Kingdom." Ironically, it was Jadeite that understood him best. The two shared a certain amount of powers in the psychic realm. Whereas he could predict the future to a certain extent and read the past, Jadeite could read people's intentions and emotions. The two used to have discussions of the future and their pasts. The memories that had been unlocked and the holes the two had found. Jadeite had not been satisfied to sit still and had gone out to find the answers whereas Nephrite was content just to read the stars and eventually the answers would come.

"Fine. You know what? Fine," Zoisite said harshly. "You know what? Never mind because you'll see for yourself. See if I ever help you again." With a final huff he turned around and made his way out of the observatory. That insurmountable jackass. He was such a stubborn mule. Zoisite fumed silently as he made his way down the stairs back to the palace proper. The information he had found was disturbing, the final report had made little sense. Where the power level that Sailor V and Jadeite had were fairly stable, this new Guardian had an unstable level that didn't make any sense. One second it was like kindling and the next it turned into what could only be a properly described as a supernova. Their only saving grace seemed to be that the girl had little control over her powers. She transformed only when pressed, but that wouldn't last long. That damn Sailor V would probably teach her everything. With a final growl of annoyance he made his way into his room to work on a new Youma.

Nephrite chuckled when Zoisite left in a huff of anger. He enjoyed pressing the third Shitennou's buttons, it was a past time that he engaged in since he willingly talked to so few people. After a moment of consideration, he glanced up at the stars to obtain some kind of guidance but they had gone dark after Zoisite's interruption. Well he would just have to try a reading tomorrow night after he attempted to draw out the Guardian to truly assess her powers. With one last look to the sky he walked out of the observatory to continue his plan for tomorrow night's activity. There was a carnival in town that would draw many people. It would be a perfect time to surreptitiously gather energy without anyone being the wiser.

Earth –

"You're Sailor V," Usagi cried with admiration. She dreamed of meeting Sailor V ever since the newspapers first started mentioning her. Every article, comic, and movie that had been released—including the super-secret first edition special of Sailor V in Bermuda—Usagi owned it all. It was almost like a dream come true, Sailor V appeared right in front of her and even rescued her! "I can't believe you saved me!"

"Yeah, there certainly wasn't anyone else there holding off two Youma that would have shredded you into pieces, that's for sure," Jadeite muttered. This was just like France all over again. He was always relegated to Sailor V's side kick no matter how instrumental he was during a fight. It wasn't that he was petty, he was just tired of always being the third wheel. That was it. It was like being part of some messed up relationship between Sailor V and the Youma where he was the best friend that was getting ignored.

"Oh, don't be such a drama queen," Usagi said. She offhandedly slapped Jadeite playfully never taking her eyes off of the heroine Sailor V.

"Don't worry about Jadeite, he can be quite a stick in the jello as they say," Sailor V laughed aloud. It was a good thing she had been working with Jadeite so long. She had felt the power that this new Sailor Senshi was putting out in her civilian form but thought nothing of it. There were some extraordinarily powerful humans that were in touch with their chi, usually through martial arts or spiritual powers. It had been when Jadeite's power signature suddenly showed up when he transformed that alerted her. The man despite his playful nature in his civilian form rarely went to his Shitennou form without good reason. She flashed a playful smile at the man who currently had a displeased look on his face as if he had just eaten something rotten. "Nice to see you again, too, Jed."

"It's stick in the mud," a voice came from the tree branches above. There was a long suffering quality to the tone as if it was fighting a losing battle but persisted anyway. A moment later a white cat with a golden crescent moon marking adorning its forehead dropped out of the trees and landed in front of Minako. The cat had a certain intelligence in its eyes that no animal should have. It almost appeared to be dissecting the two before he turned to Jadeite and raised an eyebrow in question. "I don't remember her from before…"

"Don't call me Jed, V. I am not a hillbilly from America," Jadeite replied bitterly. He felt one of his eyebrows starting to twitch. If there was one constant with Minako, it was that dealing with her was a colossal pain in the ass and testament to one's patience. He welcomed the chance to speak with the fleabag even if Artemis pissed him off just as often as Minako to be quite honest. Still, when he hurled insults at the damn cat they didn't go over his head.

"Well I don't know either. I rescued her last night and then she did this," Jadeite said and waved towards the entire Sailor Senshi uniform made of armor and sword. "My best guess is she is one of you. Did you ever have a Moon themed member?"

"You're a talking cat," Usagi's mind finally caught up with what she was seeing. At first she thought she was just seeing things but there was legitimately a talking cat. And Jadeite was talking to it as if this was a common occurrence. She grabbed onto one of Jadeite's sleeves and tugged on it eagerly, earning a hard glare from the Shitennou for interrupting his train of thought. Usagi was too engrossed by her concern to worry about Jadeite's personal space. "Why is there a talking cat?"

Artemis huffed in indignation, "I am a very important cat thank you very much. I am the personal advisor and guardian to the Sailor Senshi I'll have you know. My duty was entrusted to me by Queen Serenity and I take it very seriously."

"But there's only Sailor V. You can't be that important with only one person to advise," Usagi pointed out automatically before realizing what she said. She covered her mouth with her hand. A slight blush rose to her face at the faux pas. It wasn't exactly nice to point out to someone that their job was perhaps not as important as they thought it was. Still it was a talking cat and it was kinda weird to give a cat a job like that. Couldn't this Queen have found something a little better than a cat? Maybe like an advisor tiger. Not only would a tiger be cooler, it sounded like a hip financial firm name.

"Wha!" Artemis attempted to come up with a defense but he ended up huffing in indignation and attempted to sort himself out. He certainly had not expected to be questioned by what was clearly a Sailor Senshi and one under his jurisdiction.

"Yeah, she does have a point." Minako said a finger pressed to her lips in thought over the issue. "Shouldn't you have more Senshi to advise?"

"Yes Artemis it does raise… certain questions about your usefulness," Jadeite cut in with a victorious smirk. He had been fighting with the damn cat since he had met him about the questionable things the cat advised. Seriously, sometimes he didn't think the little white fleabag was fully engaged with reality. Somehow the damn cat thought the enemy would fight fairly and not try anything underhanded in their attempt to defeat Sailor V. It had ended with Sailor V almost buying the farm more than once. Much to his chagrin the girl continued to listen to the annoying fleabag.

"Well there should be a Sailor Senshi for each of the inner planets except Earth," Artemis huffed indignantly. Really to be questioned by a new Sailor Senshi about his importance? A small part of him wondered when Luna had rubbed off on him so much. The black cat was usually the uptight one of the pair. Since their split he found his normally carefree attitude had taken a backseat to the stress of trying to locate the missing girls that had disappeared with Luna to the Dark Kingdom. "Unfortunately, just like the other Shitennou they were turned to help the Dark Kingdom with the help of that Lord Death."

"Aww don't worry Artemis, you're important to me," Minako said with a small smile. She picked the put-off cat up and snuggled him to her chest. Artemis was reasonably mollified by her actions and may have been starting to feel a little better if Minako didn't finish her thought. "Besides without you who would dust the really high places in my room that I can't reach."

"Sometimes I truly wonder what I'm doing here," Artemis let out a defeated sigh. Perhaps it would just have been better to stay ignorant to the truth. Even as evil brainwashed versions of themselves, the other Senshi would at least appreciate him for more than as a furry duster.

"So…you think…umm…I could get you to sign some of my Sailor V comics? I have every single one of them and I have every article about you," Usagi said not all interested in the little cat's emotional wellbeing. Besides, now that she had reconciled the talking cat issue she was more interested in the celebrity in front of her. Usagi slapped Jadeite across the chest when she heard a snort of derision come from him. Really the boy had no sense of priorities.

Jadeite cut Minako off before she could respond. He really hated being the only responsible one here unless you counted Artemis. Which he didn't. He needed Usagi to be able transform on command and so far the throwing her into the deep end solution didn't seem work. As much as he didn't want to admit it, the easiest thing would be to get Minako to help. "Usa you can deal with your obsession on your own time but we need V and…Artemis here to help." He turned his eyes to Minako imploringly. "She is clearly some sort of Senshi and doesn't even have any idea how to transform unless she is under duress. I need you to help with that."

Artemis and Minako glanced at each other and seemed to have a private conversation not so much in words but small motions. Finally it appeared that Artemis had decided that they would help after Minako turned her pleading eyes to him. The small white cat huffed once in defeat before turning his attention to Usagi and Jadeite. "We'll help, but I don't know how much we can really do. Our main priority remains finding the Princess and while she clearly isn't fighting for the Dark Kingdom, we don't have time to run a boot camp for someone that may not even be part of the Senshi."

"Artemis," Minako hissed in annoyance. He could be such a pain in her ass. She turned her attention back to the two after one final glare at the rude little cat. "What he is trying to say is that we still must keep searching for our princess as our top priority. She is the only one that can truly restore the memory of the Silver Millennium to the other Senshi," Minako shot a comforting smile at Usagi's wilting stature at her words. She raised a finger. "But we have tracked the Princess to this area and we could use a helping hand. So we'll help you if you promise to help us find the Princess."

"Sure of course!" Usagi responded instantly. She thought that it was going to be a no but it turned out instead she was going to be trained by her idol! This was possibly the best news she could ever hope for. In fact, she was practically on cloud nine. Alright they were going on about some weird things like that Silver Millennium thingy and sure she still really didn't want to fight. She probably would have continued fighting Jadeite on the whole thing and asked for him to somehow repress her power so she didn't have to fight but this was an exception. To be taught to fight by her idol and role model! There was no way she would say no to this, that was for sure.

"Just remember, you also need to help me find my King," Jadeite prompted with a small glare at Minako. Really how could Minako put such restrictions on Usagi in order to agree to train her? She was one of them anyway even if none of them could remember their existence. He mentally sidestepped the whole issue that he had more or less imposed the same demand on Usagi in exchange for helping her in the first place.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll help both of you find your lost Royalty," Usagi groused, silently bemoaning the fact that neither of them could keep track of their own Royalty and now she would be stuck with both of them. Helping Sailor V would be awesome and her eyes practically sparkled in excitement. The problem was that it meant she would continue to spend time with Jadeite.

"Well I propose we meet tomorrow and start training. Then we can figure out some kind of plan to find the Princess," Artemis said. He glanced at Jadeite before adding in the last part almost begrudgingly. "And your King."

"But the carnival is tomorrow night," Usagi whined. There was no way she would miss something as awesome as the large carnival that was coming to town that weekend. Sure she could go Saturday and maybe Sunday but Friday had some of the coolest shows. It would be a shame to miss it because Jadeite and Artemis were being unreasonable about her social life.

"Oh a carnival! I say we meet here tomorrow after school and then go to the carnival!" Minako cried in excitement that looked more ridiculous since she was still appeared as Sailor Venus. She saw that Usagi seemed all too willing to agree with her but from the looks on the faces of Jadeite and Artemis they did not exactly agree. She coughed slightly. Perhaps a compromise was in order. If she didn't offer one quickly Artemis and Jadeite would straight up override Usagi and her. "Umm right…er we can meet here after school and do some training…theeeeeen we can go to the carnival?"

"Fine," Jadeite quickly agreed before Minako could try to weasel any more concessions out of him in the name of compromise. The girl was devious that was for sure. There had been more than one time in France where he had been cajoled into going shopping with her in the name of discussing common goals. Then shopping turned into lunch…and then dinner…and then a movie. He ended up paying for all of it.

"Right! We'll meet here tomorrow then!" Usagi agreed with a smile. She wasn't exactly happy about having to do what she considered work on a Friday night but with the promise of the carnival afterwards how could she not agree. Her mentor being there also seemed to help things.

"Well then. We'll be off. See you tomorrow!" With a final wave Sailor V disappeared with her white cat and advisor riding on her shoulder. It left Jadeite and Usagi alone to wander back to Usagi's house. Jadeite ever being the gentleman—or more likely he refused to lose what was essentially the only thing that could easily defeat the Youma—escorted her home.

"I can't believe I got to meet Sailor V in person," Usagi practically screamed in excitement. Her voice took on a shrill tone as she attempted to contain herself. While on the way out of the park her powers had once again disappeared upon her basically willing them away. "She is so cool."

"Yeah, I wouldn't get too excited," Jadeite glanced over at Usagi and rolled his eyes seeing her glare. He let out a long suffering sigh. "Believe me, after working with her for two years you'll find she has her faults. And don't forget that you have those same powers now."

"You're such a downer!" She rolled her eyes at Jadeite's comments. Really couldn't he try to remember that her happiness was what was important? Besides, he needed her not the other way around. She put her arms behind her back and clasped them together as she started fantasizing about working with Sailor V. "Ya think I'll get a talking cat so I can be more like Sailor V?"

"I hope not," Jadeite responded with a slight shudder. There was no way he could deal with a second talking cat. Two years of dealing with Artemis in France was enough for a life time. If he had to handle that annoying fleabag and a second one he'd probably lose it. He glanced over at Usagi. "So you seem to have had a change of heart about this whole fighting dark creatures and finding lost royalty thing. I would have thought you'd have more questions like where we came from and what we're doing, not to mention the whole past memories thing," He tentatively floated the questions he had been holding in since her change of heart on the whole matter. It was almost like she had completely changed from the night before. He had his suspicions. Nothing was that easy especially how hard she was fighting it.

"Hm…" Usagi hummed a little before looking up towards the stars twinkling overhead. "Well…I guess…" She trailed off for a moment before looking back to Jadeite with a slight blush before she practically exploded in excitement. "It's just I get to actually train with Sailor V! I mean this whole business can't be that bad if I am working with my idol! Just think of the movie contracts! Of course I'll have to think up a cool name. I can't just copy the whole Sailor thing she has going on or else people will think I'm a copycat and I'm no copycat. I mean I don't even have her outfit and I got that cool sword!"

Jadeite had to keep his hands to his sides to keep them from clenching and unclenching. In fact he could feel his eyebrow starting to tic. He couldn't believe how immature her outlook was. That was all it took to convince her that this was a good call? Not his demands that she train to help him or protect her family. No, it was the chance to work with Minako. A dubious honor at best as far as he was concerned. He attempted to keep the seething tone out of his voice. He should just be happy she had changed her mind but this was seriously ticking him off. "So, you're not at all worried about anything. Nothing like a past kingdom on the Moon and other planets, lost royalty or missing memories from a past life?"

"Not really my problem," Usagi waved off Jadeite's points as if they were of no concern. "I mean what you guys believe in is all on you guys. As long as I'm trained by Sailor V and go on missions with her I'm good." Really she had kind of spaced out when Jadeite started in on the whole past life thing and all that nonsense. It just didn't interest her that much. Super powers? Check. Kickass Outfit? Check. A super cool leader? Check. She was content as far as she was concerned.

"Your shortsightedness never fails to astound me despite the short time I've known you," Jadeite grumbled. He was going to bring up the point of the talking cat but he figured at this point she had more or less clocked out and was only thinking about Sailor V. He was debating bringing up another issue with her to try and see the seriousness of the entire thing but she interrupted him.

"Well this is my house!" Usagi cried out shattering the momentary silence that the two had shared. Usagi had been fantasizing about saving handsome boys with Sailor V much as Jadeite had mentally postulated and Jadeite was simply cursing his entire existence.

"Thank god for small miracles," He muttered on under his breath.

"Well I'll see you tomorrow at school I guess?" Usagi ventured with a slight questioning look and a raise of her eyebrow.

"Yeah, I'll be there. Just remember to tell your parents you are staying late for some tutoring and then going to the carnival. We are meeting Sailor V right after school," Jadeite reminded her. Last thing he needed was to be interrupted by a search party. With how spastic her father seemed to be it wouldn't be out of the question.

Usagi nodded before turning around and walking towards the house. Right as she got to the door a thought occurred to her and she turned back to Jadeite. She almost felt a chill go down her spin when she met his eyes. There was a certain intensity to them that sometimes scared the shit out of her. After shaking the odd feeling off, Usagi called out to Jadeite. "You're coming right? To the carnival, I mean."

After a moment's pause he just nodded back to her before he quickly turned and left. He needed to get back to his apartment and meditate. Ever since he met up with Usagi, he had been neglecting his duties. Just because he had found a girl that could kill Youma easily did not mean he'd magically find his King without actually putting in some work on his end as well.

Usagi watched Jadeite until he was out of view. A small smile crossed her face. Jadeite was a hard read for her. One moment he was demanding and intense. The next moment he was laid back and easy going. She wondered which one was the real Jadeite and which one had been born out of circumstance. With a shake of her head she opened the door and announced her arrival home. "I'm back!"

"How was your tutoring session dear?" Ikuko called from the kitchen.

"Fine, Mom!" Usagi called back while trudging towards the stairs. She was almost up the stairs when she remembered to tell her mother about tomorrow. Instead of walking all the way down, she decided to just yell down. It was easier and honestly she was tired after tonight. All this running around and killing crazy creatures was for the birds. If not for Sailor V, she would have told Jadeite to stuff it that was for sure. "Hey Mom! I umm… got a tutoring session again tomorrow right after school and then I'm going to the carnival with a friend!"

"Oh!" Ikuko called out from downstairs a smile crossing her face before she stuck her tongue out at her husband who was sitting at the kitchen table doing his evening crossword. "Are you going with Jadeite?" She called out with a certain amount of glee. Oh the wedding bells were in the air and there was no way she'd let Kenji ruin this. She wanted her son-in-law dammit and Jadeite met all her requirements.

"Yes," Usagi called out uncertainly before adding on. "I'm also going with another friend of his though and Naru will probably be there too!"

The furious scribbling of the crossword puzzle stopped as Kenji accidently snapped his pencil from holding it too hard. A slight twitch caused his eyebrow to jump. After a moment he couldn't contain himself any longer. "I don't want you out with that boy unless it is for tutoring! This isn't a gang initiation is it?!"

"What?! NO!" Usagi called back down the stairs in a huff. Sometimes her dad was way too over protective. It was kind of nice in middle school when all boys were jerks, but now it was getting ridiculous. She didn't want to bring a boy home and have him chased off by her Dad acting crazy. "I'm going to bed and it isn't a date! Or a gang initiation."

"Kenji. Seriously. I worry about your heart. You can't get so stressed out about this," Ikuko lectured her husband while absently tapping a wooden stirring spoon against her hand. "Our little girl is growing up and you're going to have to get used to her going out with boys and maybe even finding her future husband."

"But…" Kenji attempted to establish some sort of defense but one glance down at his snapped pencil and he realized he couldn't come up with anything that made sense. "Well, she is just my little girl and I'm having a little trouble adjusting. Shingo is going to be starting High School in a year and Usa is a Junior. Soon she will be off to College or working—Lord help whoever employs her—and I just...I'm feeling old."

Ikuko favored him with a sympathetic smile. She could understand where her husband was coming from. She had felt the same way over the years. With the kids more or less out of her hair she had gone back to school to obtain her Masters. A sly smile crossed her face. "You know we could always have another. I don't think we're that old…" She trailed off with a slight waggle of her eyebrows.

Kenji clutched his chest dramatically and let out a long suffering sigh. "Are you trying to kill me? I don't think I could survive another one."

Ikuko reached out with the wooden spoon and tapped her husband on the head. "Good because I am not going through that again for you no matter how many pretty diamonds you buy me." She turned her attention back to the lunches she was fixing for the entire family again. "Just remember dear. We met around her age and we had Usagi soon after."

That effectively silenced Kenji. The man knew that to answer in any way that could possibly be taken as implying that they had had Usagi too early would end up with him on the sofa for the next three weeks or more. Instead he just grunted in agreement and went back to his crossword. After seventeen years of marriage he knew when to pick his battles and this was not only a battle he'd lose but a probably sentencing to the sofa for the foreseeable future if he pursued the subject further.

Usagi once again had odd dreams during the night. There were some oddly dressed girls there that she felt some kind of connection to but she had never met them in her life. Certain parts of her dreams almost felt more like memories. There were scenes of her as a young child with silver hair running through a beautiful garden to her mother, but it wasn't Ikuko. Instead it was a silver haired woman. Together they looked up and stared at the Earth in the distance, but that didn't make sense. Thankfully she was released from her dreams once more by her alarm clock and her younger brother bringing her back to the world of the living.

The school day thankfully passed quickly enough. Jadeite had his personal harem following him around from the start of the day to the end of the day. Most of the day for Usagi was spent with Naru who thankfully didn't drag her over to Jadeite again after Usage explained that Jadeite was, in fact, her new tutor. She hated lying to her friend but it wasn't exactly like she had a choice in the matter. Jadeite would probably kill her and then Sailor V wouldn't be able to train her since you can't exactly train a corpse. It was shortly after three in the afternoon when the pair arrived in the secluded area of the park that they had agreed upon yesterday.

When they arrived a young woman with a red ribbon holding her long blond hair back was already there. She could've been a model if not for the fact that she didn't have the height normally associated with one. A white cat lounged over her right shoulder with his head down and eyes closed. It'd be an odd sight for Usagi if not for the fact she had transformed into an armored magical warrior and had witness a monster trying to kill her. Not once, but twice.

"Minako," Jadeite greeted with an easy going smile once he got close enough to greet her without yelling halfway across the park. "Thank you for meeting us here."

"No problem!" Minako responded in a bubbly voice. She was honestly quite excited about the prospect of a new Senshi even if she couldn't remember her ever existing. Of course Artemis had been his normal paranoid self but she had waved off his concerns. The girl transformed and killed monsters. Was there really any need for further concern? Not as far as Minako was concerned. She smiled brightly at Usagi before turning her attention back to Jadeite. "Thought you got rid of me when you left France, didn't ya?"

Usagi stood behind Jadeite not quite sure what to say. Meeting your hero for the first time in person and not right after you were in a life and death situation….what should she even say? She attempted to figure out something but anything she thought up just sounded stupid and inane. She wisely kept her mouth shut as her mother always told her: it was better to stay quiet and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and confirm it.

"The thought crossed my mind," Jadeite responded with a laugh. "Not that I don't appreciate your help, but I thought you were picking up your Princesses signature in France when I left."

"Well, I was but then the oddest thing happened and an energy source that matched the Princesses signature just appeared in the Tokyo area. Naturally by the time we got here it completely disappeared." Minako laughed nervously herself. "So…here we are."

"You lost the signal then. I thought you had that sophisticated energy sensor that could track down your Princess's energy no matter how weak it was?" Jadeite questioned with a slight raise of an eyebrow.

The blush that appeared on her face was all he needed to see to know that somehow the klutz destroyed or lost the sensor. The only question was how. Minako mumbled something unintelligible under her breath.

"What was that?"

"I said I may have kinda… sorta… uh, broke it," Minako responded with a beat red face.

"What she means is that she forgot it was in her jeans pocket and washed it. Then as if that wasn't enough, she fried it completely by putting it in the dryer," Artemis said with a sigh of annoyance. Being partnered up with Minako was a true testament to his patience. Despite his urge to claw her eyes out he had managed to restrain himself. Barely.

"Well as fun as it would be to hear more about Minako's destruction of fragile artifacts and technology we will probably never see again," Jadeite said before Minako could get on a roll. He knew if those two started bickering they'd be here all night. "I'd like to actually get to the point of our meeting." He stepped aside and swept his hand towards his ward for lack of a better term. "I ran into her two nights ago when a Youma decided to make her a tasty energy source. Just like last night she transformed under duress but she hasn't been able to transform on her own. I was hoping you'd have some idea."

"Hm…well have you tried calling on the power of the Moon?" Artemis questioned. "Based on what I saw last night it would be the most logical option. All the other planets have their own Senshi already and Earth never had one."

"Already tried that," Jadeite shook his head with a slight frown. "No go."

"Well, maybe she needs to name her transformation." Minako pointed out helpfully.

"That's completely ridiculous," Jadeite groused. "There is no way her issue was that she did not appropriately name her transformation and that is why she can't transform."

"Nothing else has worked," Usagi retorted before sticking out her tongue. She finally got the gumption up to speak. Truthfully she was tired of the three of them talking about her like she wasn't even there. "I'm going to try it! I even thought up a cool name to go with my whole armor and sword theme!" Usagi practically squealed in excitement. The idea had come to her in the middle of study hall today and she thought it was just about the best thing ever.

"Great. Go ahead." Jadeite made a shooing motion as if to distance himself from the whole mess. Sometimes Minako came up with the craziest ideas and that was saying something when he took into account Usagi's propensity to spit out complete word vomit in the form of "reasoning". He could only hope that it wasn't as terrible as he feared it would be.

"I wasn't going to wait for your permission anyway!" Usagi stuck her tongue out at Jadeite before cupping her hands together around the miniature sword that was attached to the silver chain. "Lunar! Sailor! Power!" She called out making sure to clearly annunciate each and every word. In a burst of light Usagi quickly transformed from her school girl uniform into the armored version of a Sailor Senshi.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me. It actually worked," Jadeite grumbled in disbelief. The fact that something Minako had thought up worked was cause for concern. Yet here they were. Usagi was fully transformed and was currently waving her sword around in victory.

"I did it! I can't believe I did it!" Usagi cried in excitement. She could actually transform without nearly dying from some creepy creature trying to kill her. "Bwhahaha! I am the Lunar Ronin!" She crowed in victory with a large smile on her face.

"I knew I was a genius!" Minako cheered her on with a fist pump into the air that ruffled Artemis. The cat merely readjusted himself with a slight huff and a half assed glare in Minako's general direction.

"That is so stupid," Jadeite groused. "Ronin doesn't even make sense."

"Sure it does!" Usagi stuck her tongue out and blew a raspberry. "Ronin means without a master and I definitely don't have a Princess, King, or any other royalty that I have to find."

"She's got a point," Minako said with a finger to her lips in thought.

"I don't care if she's got ten points," Jadeite rolled his eyes. "I don't run around attaching stupid titles to my name."

"Oh yeah cause Sailor Ronin sounds so much worse than what was it again…" Usagi trailed off in mock thought before raising her finger and continued in a sarcastic tone. "Oh that's right, the Shitennou of the Eastern Empire and holder of the flames of purity…or some boring drivel close to that am I right?"

Jadeite was about to make another snide remark when he felt a sudden pulse coming from the direction of the carnival. Of course. The carnival was perfect for Beryl with all those people gathered. Especially if she needed energy fast. Not only that, but the pulse of power felt familiar. Nephrite. Clearly the turned Shitennou was requesting their presence and if Nephrite was expecting them it meant trouble. He glanced over to Minako to see if she had sensed it to only to see her little wand already out. "Well looks like you get to keep your stupid name. As much as I'd love to argue the point further it appears Nephrite just sent us an invitation to the carnival."

"Wait, you mean actively go towards danger?" Usagi said with a shrill tone of disbelief. "I'm not even trained! I need some kind of training before I actively run towards danger!" She couldn't believe these people! They actually wanted to go towards what was surely a dangerous situation?

"Consider it training on the job," Minako pointed out helpfully before she twirled her wand around. That was all the warning that Artemis had to vacate from Minako's shoulder. Unfortunately it wasn't enough and the white cat was sent sailing through the air with a strangled meow when the burst of power pushed out from Minako. She started to glow and held her wand up before bringing it around in an intricate dance. "Venus! Star! Power!"

"Should I start transforming like that too?" Usagi questioned as she and Jadeite stood there while Minako continued to glow and twirl around in what appeared to be an intricate interpretative dance.

"Not if you don't want a Youma to kick you half way through your transformation. Not that she would know about that," Jadeite muttered darkly before he slammed his fists together to start his own powerful transformation. "Flames of the Eastern Empire! Aid me now in my time of need!" He ended with a shout before disappearing in a column of fire. Once more the blast of fire disappeared as quickly as it was called forth and he stepped forward in his Shitennou uniform his black katana already formed in his hands. "And that is how you transform. Efficient. Quick. And nowhere near as showy as whatever that is," He gestured to Minako who had finally completed her transformation into Sailor Venus.

"I am Sailor Venus! Protector of lo-"

"This is getting stupid," Jadeite cut in before Minako could finish her battle speech. He didn't have time for this. Whatever Nephrite was up to wasn't going to be good. The man wasn't a Shitennou without a reason and the longer they dilly-dallied the more time Nephrite had for preparation. "Save your speech for the general public."

"Aww, but I had a really good one!" Minako whined childishly before sticking her tongue out at Jadeite. "You're never any fun! It is like you thrive on boredom. Come on, this job is stressful enough without you! And you make speeches, too! Those who live in glass houses should flock together, you know!"

"Some warning next time, Minako," Artemis growled as he finally came back out of the bushes with little twigs matted into his fur and tree sap stuck in it as well. He didn't appear happy about his unplanned flight through the trees and shrubbery.

"Yeah, yeah. Next time! We gotta go save the world now!" Minako cried out before she jumped away towards the carnival.

"Finally," Jadeite muttered before following suit with Usagi close in tow behind him. The duo quickly caught up to Minako as they left the tree line and started to use the buildings to cover the distance at a faster clip. Even without the bright lights the carnival was easy to find with the screams coming forth. The people still awake and alert were disbursing from the area in droves. The group landed on a small building that overlooked the carnival.

Their target was obvious. It looked like a demented circus clown and all around it there were people scattered haphazardly. They all looked like they could be sleeping if not for the paleness of their faces.

"That's it! I'm going to knock the socks off of this guy!" Minako growled before she jumped down to confront the Youma.

"Such a pleasure to work with such a mature person," Jadeite commented dryly before following suit with a long suffering sigh of annoyance.

Usagi glanced down at the two as they landed in front of the Youma. Sailor V started to give her speech about love and justice while Jadeite just looked bored with the whole ordeal. Despite their differences the two carried a certain amount of confidence that she didn't know if she could emulate enough to even fake it. She was just about to take a deep breath and join them when a voice with a deep timber to it interrupted her.

"So, this is the threat that has caused us so much trouble?" Nephrite interrupted with a sneer. Really she looked like an armored version of that annoying Sailor V. This girl would be no trouble for him to handle right here and now. Normally he was very careful with his plans when the stars demanded it but the stars had given him no guidance. No thanks to that annoying Zoisite. "Although the others would prefer to toy with you, I believe I will kill you right now before you become a true threat to our cause."

"I'm no threat I swear!" Usagi held her hands up in a gesture of nonviolence with her sword held loosely in her right hand. What was with these murderous creeps? They had it all totally wrong. She just wanted to be a super heroine and fight with Sailor V; she didn't actually want to get into a murderous situation.

"Your elimination of three Youma says differently. Now tell me where the Princess is hidden," Nephrite yelled as he formed his lightning halberd in his two hands before he charged the small girl before him. Right as he got within range, he brought the weapon skillfully around, already charging it with electricity.

Usagi just managed to duck away from the sparking halberd. A look of fear crossing her face, she suddenly realized for once this was for real and help wasn't coming. A quick glance to the scene below where it appeared that Jadeite and Sailor V were having quite the challenge of their own with the circus clown. Minako was tied up in balloons while Jadeite was try to cut and burn through them for her. Usagi turned her attention back to Nephrite just in time to catch his halberd with her sword. The strike caused a ringing sensation throughout her arm and up into her shoulder. It was only through concentration that she managed to keep the weapon in her hand. She grabbed the hilt with her other hand and managed to twist the giant blade away. "I don't know where this Princess is! Ask Sailor V!"

"Don't play stupid. It demeans the both of us," Nephrite responded calmly as he swung his halberd around before jutting it out in front of him and letting loose a bolt of lightning. It struck Usagi in the chest. He laughed darkly as he watched the armored Senshi go flying back with a giant burn mark on her chest plate now. Steam was still rose from her chest plate and the girl was coughing something fierce from the blow. He calmly walked over while she was still recovering and placed his boot down onto her chest. A grim smile adorned his face. "You are the Guardian of the Moon Princess. Now reveal her location to me," he said and charged up an orb of electricity in his free hand while moving the point of the halberd to Usagi's exposed neck.

Jadeite once again danced around another balloon that was attempting to ensnare him and once more he let loose a torrent of flame that caused the rubber to pop. It left a rather noxious odor behind. He conjured a whip of fire and lashed out laterally bisecting many of the rubber balloons that were attempting to suck his energy dry. With a growl he pushed forward and made it to Minako before freeing her with a controlled burst of fire down the edge of his sword. "Do me a favor. No more stupid inane speeches," he growled before he spun them both away out of range of a dart that the Youma threw at them.

"Yes Dad," Minako commented dryly before quickly forming her chain out of her own energy and swinging it at the Youma. "Venus Love-Me Chain!" She cried out as she managed to get the chain wrapped around the creature's midsection. Minako shot Jadeite a confident grin right before the creature grabbed the chain and yanked Sailor Venus towards him.

"Silly Sailor, you just don't know how to have fun," the creature grinned before he snapped the chain and formed a giant rubber balloon out of thin air. With that, it encapsulated Sailor V in the balloon. It giggled aloud before waving at Sailor V as she started to float away from the helium that was injected into the balloon.

Minako realized she was in trouble the moment she started to float away. She couldn't get a full breath and her lungs started to heave in an attempt to gather what little oxygen that was left in the balloon into her body. She quickly fell to her knees gasping and attempted to form a crescent beam attack to bust out of the balloon but was too weak to form the attack. All she could get was a small spark of power that died all too quickly. It wasn't the first time she had been in a life or death situation, but this time Jadeite wasn't there to save her. She could see the trouble he was in without her being a concern.

Jadeite glanced up at Minako floating well above him now and growled in anger. He attempted to raise his hand to shoot a spout of fire in order to free his comrade, but the Youma struck first. A giant ball of sticky rubber hit his raised hand so hard that it caused him to spin as it solidified and a moment later it was stuck to the wall of a nearby building. He was about to try to free himself but the creature hit his other hand and both feet with three more bursts of rubber.

"Time for you to cool off," The Youma giggled at its own joke. "Why don't you take a deep breathe because you're about to be deficient on oxygen," it cackled before it blew one last giant bubble of rubber out that encased Jadeite's head in the thick rubber. It was the same that covered his mouth and nose completely. The creature stepped back to admire its handiwork with a grin. Sailor V was currently losing the battle to remain concise in the middle of the air and Jadeite would soon join her in asphyxiating.

A/N: And here is where we leave them. I know a cliff hanger I'm evil bwhaha. I will probably be taking some time to update some of my other stories but hey as it goes with most authors my attention primarily goes to what is getting review so don't be surprised if I am inspired to continue with this piece of work. I am going to try to keep most chapters at about this length. Make sure to thank Fleury's Apprentice70 for helping smooth out this entire story from here on out. I really appreciate it myself since I am more an idea guy than a presentation guy. Anyway until next time.


	4. A Night at the Carnival Part 2

A/N: I know I should pay attention to some of my other stories but this one has really been a lot of fun to write so yeah once more here we go. I am going to be trying to incorporate some realism into the Japanese Police Force and I am also going to attempt to use vehicles and rankings the Japanese Police Force actually uses. So basically excuse this American's attempt to make this work…damnit. I also finally figured out what to do with some of the Outers. Finally we start out with an OC. I know most people hate them and despise their presence but I am hoping you people tolerate this one and he will be the only OC you will see much of. Any other OCs in this story will be minor at best.

Chapter 4: A night at the carnival part II

Sergeant Gavin Kent sat idly in his Subaru Legacy. In his one hand was a cigarette that he tapped absentmindedly on the edge of the open window. With his other hand he flipped through the reports to go over. A glance up from his work showed a rather mundane scene. The sun wouldn't set for another three hours which meant people were out enjoying the extended day light: children ran to get to their destinations with their parents dutifully keeping pace, teenagers walked in large groups with no real destination in mind, and young couples strolled around in the city before heading to their dinner reservations. It was a normal Friday in April there in Japan. No, he couldn't complain about his business currently for at least he hadn't gotten stuck on carnival duty.

With the carnival in town a lot of officers were stuck policing the area to make sure the more rowdy teens didn't cause trouble. It was also just preemptive to place the emergency responders in the vicinity due to increased possibilities for emergencies at these kinds of events. The officer snorted at the thought of the misfortune some of his friends were currently suffering before absently taking another drag of his cigarette and blew the smoke out the window. An unfortunate habit he had picked up while serving in the United States Military.

He held dual citizenship coming from a Japanese mother who had married his American father while he was stationed over in Japan, though it was hard to tell he was mixed heritage as he favored his father in appearance. Tall at over six feet, built like a tank and with dark blue eyes that were almost black, the only feature that he received from his mother was his neatly trimmed black hair.

One would certainly call him an oddity and his path to getting here was just as strange. After serving with the Military as part of the ground troops in Iraq, he decided to return to his mother's native land to learn more about his Japanese heritage and stumbled into a job he loved while exploring the country. He needed an income so he had joined the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and then was accepted into the experimental and controversial counter-terrorism unit on par with the Self Defense Force's Special Forces. He was one of the few officers on the force that was armed with a gun at all times for fast response. After seeing that global terrorism was on the rise, it was decided that Tokyo needed a hard hitting unit that could respond to a situation until the Self-Defense Force could respond with heavy weaponry.

He chuckled a bit wondering if there was even a point to his station in the counter-terrorism unit. From what he had seen here in Japan the chances of terrorists spreading their message to the Japanese people was slim. The culture was fairly exclusive to foreigners and even he had issues since he was not fully Japanese.

The radio crackled to life. "All units near the Asakusa district respond to Tokyo Carnival." The voice paused a moment before continuing on in the calm tone that only a seasoned dispatcher could keep in the face of the information. "Reported attack at the carnival with unknown casualties. We are having a hard time reaching officers on the ground but we do have confirmed officers down."

"Shit," Sergeant Kent muttered. He double clicked his mic for a moment to request channel priority before responding to the dispatcher. "This is Sergeant Kent, responding." With a regretful look he tossed the half-finished cigarette out the window and onto the street. He similarly tossed the reports he was going over into the passenger seat and started up the turbo charged four cylinder Legacy and flipped on the lights and siren. With a quick look to make sure he was clear he floored it and took off down the street. He skillfully dodged around the heavy traffic that seemed to be present no matter what time of day even with the ample public transportation.

If he hadn't been given the location of the incident by command he would have found it easily enough that was for sure. Just ahead there were streams of people rushing out of the area. The police that had been on hand at the event were currently trying to provide some form of crowd control but it was a losing battle. He parked himself as near as he dared to the evacuating civilians. After parking he quickly turned the siren off but left the flashing red and blue lights on to keep some idiot driver from hitting his car. He once more clicked his mic before speaking through the system. "Sergeant Kent, I am on scene at the South side of the carnival, updates?" He demanded gruffly. He rarely wasted words with pleasantries or additional descriptors as it tended to just confuse people.

After a minute of waiting the dispatcher came back. "Sergeant Kent, reports are of a possible terrorist armed with unknown weaponry. The Superintendent-General Hitoshi Saeki has authorized activation of the counter-terrorism division. Officer Tenou will be arriving shortly to assist."

"Acknowledged," Gavin responded before he pulled himself out of the car, popping the trunk in the process. He made his way around the car trying not to grumble too much about his back up. Tenou was a hardnosed young woman that was tenacious, argumentative, cocky, and impulsive to the point she ran into situations before fully assessing them. She reminded him exactly of a younger version of himself and Kent took it upon himself to work on kicking those very traits out of her one way or another.

While he ruminated over his back up he lifted the trunk the rest of the way and grabbed the dark blue bullet proof vest with the Tokyo Metro Police symbol emblazoned in gold on the upper right corner of the vest. He quickly secured the vest to his body before pulling out the matching forearm pieces and shin pieces of the armor. After securing the remainder of his counter-terrorism response gear he threw the tactical vest loaded with ammunition over his bullet proof vest and picked up the unloaded colt pistol before slamming a clip home and then placing the black .45 caliber handgun into the holster inside his vest. Next he made sure to brush his hair out of the way before securing the helmet to his head and securing the chin strap. The last part of his arsenal was the P90 assault rifle and finally after loading the cartridge into the rifle he secured the shoulder strap over his left shoulder.

Just as he completed prepping he heard the unmistakable whine of a turbo charged engine being pushed to its limits right before the sound of screeching tires and angry honks. Gavin closed his eyes in annoyance. Enter Haruka. It appeared she had arrived in her normal fashion. He shut his trunk without bothering to look back. If he did it would just piss him off and cause him a mini aneurism. A moment later a Toyota Crown came to a screeching halt next to him. A side long glance confirmed that Haruka was indeed behind the wheel. The only plus side was that Michiru Kaioh appeared to be along for the ride. He could identify her immediately by her oddly colored sea foam colored hair and the ridiculous Australian bush hat that she always wore. Then again being a dead eye sniper gave her a certain leeway with standard uniform it seemed.

Haruka threw the car into park and popped the trunk in one solid motion before shooting a grin at her passenger. "Told ya I'd get us here in record time," she said with a slightly smug tone. When would Michiru learn not to bet on her response time it was always a losing battle. She briefly noted Michiru rolling her eyes but didn't let it bother her. Haruka was way too excited that they were finally being deployed. The tall blonde haired woman practically leaped out of her car and ran around to the back in glee over the prospect of the upcoming conflict. She was an adrenaline junky. The life of a police officer in a highly specialized unit suited her well. She was already pulling out her assault shotgun from the back of her car and securing it when Michiru came around to retrieve her single action bolt rifle and her back pack. Haruka turned to her superior officer and immediately noted the frown on his face. The man was a complete hard ass and was always on her case about something. She managed a mock salute with only a tiny hint of a condescending smirk as she addressed him. "Sergeant Kent, Officers Haruka Tenou and Michiru Kaioh reporting for duty!"

Michiru glanced up from securing her backpack from Haruka's cruiser and offered Gavin a small smile in apology for Haruka. It was a known fact that the two didn't get along and while Gavin was the second in command of the counter-terrorist unit, it didn't stop Haruka from butting heads and challenging the man on a constant basis. Their unit in general all had strong personalities since most were used to being in charge from their previous experiences. There were always some issues off the field. Once they got into the thick of the action, they all worked like a well-oiled machine. She shook her head slightly to clear it out before grabbing her single bolt action sniper rifle and slinging it over her shoulder.

"Tenou, how many times do I have to tell you the squad cars are not race cars. Keep driving like that and I'll make sure to take away your driving privileges." Gavin responded in an exasperated tone while trying to keep the smug look off his face at seeing Tenou's face sour at his reprimanding. He turned his attention to Michiru and favoring her with a small smile before hassling her about her ridiculous hat. "And Kiaoh…that hat isn't standard uniform. Once again you are working for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Force, you are not that S.T.A.R.S. sniper from Resident Evil." It was fruitless to reprimand her it really was. At least Tenou would fight and curse if she disagreed with something so you knew where she stood. Kaioh on the other hand just gave him that damned understanding smile and would calmly acknowledge his orders but never actually do anything to change unless she wanted to. The two were stubborn in their own ways but at least Kaioh humored him which he counted as a win.

He favored the two with a slight glare before waving his hand to signify that they were moving on. They had wasted enough time as it was and time was of the essence. Taking a quick look around he found the tower he wanted Kaioh at the top of and pointed it out to her. "Kaioh…take that tower. I want you in position immediately and give us eyes in the sky. We don't know what kind of threat is in there and back up won't arrive in time for us to sit around hoping the problem will get better. Tenou you're with me. We're going to take a look, give this guy a chance to back down and if he doesn't we're going to put holes in him until he goes down. Questions?" He asked in a tone that didn't invite any response. "Move out."

Michiru shrugged the giant rifle onto her shoulder so that it rested comfortably across her back and jogged towards the tallest building in the area. It overlooked most of the street the carnival was held in and would provide her the best possible vantage point. She was surprised that they were actually being called up and it was by luck that she was getting off shift when the call came in. Tenou grabbed her on the way out and they had hightailed it to the area. Not for the first time she wondered how the two of them ended up working for the Tokyo Police Department. She briefly paused in her thinking of the past as she made her way into the lobby of the hotel and paused only briefly to find the front desk. "I need access to the roof." She stated as she walked up to the attendant while flashing her badge that was dangling from a chain on her neck.

"Ta-a-a-ke the ce-center elevator to the top. Left then right…can't miss it." The desk attendant responded while nervously eyeing the giant rifle that the teal haired woman had casually slung over her shoulder.

"Thank you." She responded in a calm tone and offered a small comforting smile. Guns were certainly not normal here in Japan and she wasn't surprised the attendant would be nervous over the fact that a woman just walked in with a rifle. Cop or not it wasn't something one could say was a normal occurrence or even a rare occurrence. Not bothering to think about it any further she made her way over to the elevator and pressed the up button. She could feel the eyes of the hotel's guests on her and once more she wasn't surprised. With her Australian bush hat and giant rifle she looked more like a big game hunter than an officer of the law. Instead of engaging with the people surrounding her she instead retreated back to her thoughts. In a few minutes she would have to put her complete concentration on wind direction, speed, location, and distance.

The soft ping of the bell alerted her to the arrival of the elevator's car and she stepped in before pressing the button for the top most floor on the panel. Her thoughts drifted back to meeting Haruka. It had been a few years ago while the two of them had been in High School in Germany of all places. A soft smile crossed her face at the thought of what she thought of as her home country despite being American on paper. They had both been military brats and while she spent much of her youth in Germany, Haruka moved there from a base in Japan. The girls had run into each other at the base's shooting range which was a favored past time of the older kids at the German base. Upon meeting Haruka she found a kindred spirit in the fact that they were both adventurous and wanted to explore the world.

After a few years of traveling together, something had drawn them to Japan. Neither could put a finger on it but it just felt like it was where they were needed. And despite no formal training they had managed to get into the academy together and passed with flying colors. When the counter-terrorism task force was formed they applied and passed with flying colors there as well thanks to their interest in the shooting range in Germany. But if one pressed Michiru, she would admit that Haruka probably got in on her brazen attitude and scaring the hell out of the instructors.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the dinging bell of the elevator. She stepped off the elevator and onto the top floor. After a quick glance around she followed the instructions provided by the attendant and it led her to the roof as promised. Once she got out onto the roof she quickly started to unpack the items from her bag mainly her binoculars and range finder. Normally, she had a spotter but she would make do.

Within a minute she had a beat on the target. It looked like some demented clown from hell but it had just fired some kind of substance out of its body and stuck a civilian in a weird white uniform to a wall followed by the substance being thrown onto the man's face. There was another girl from the looks of it trapped in some kind of bubble. It must be some kind of chemical warfare. Shit, they weren't equipped for this kind of response. The only option would be to take it down quick. She quickly clicked the mic on and spoke calmly and succinctly. "Gavin, eyes on target. One tango in clown getup, two civilians in distress. Ready to fire on your command."

"Acknowledged Kaioh. Take the shot." Gavin responded gruffly. He glanced around the corner his P90 held low and half pointed towards the ground for the moment. Normally he'd give the perp a chance to give up but two lives were in danger and based on the unresponsive people that he had run into on the way in with Haruka, he doubted the perp was going to give up. He glanced over at Haruka who was pressed up tight against the opposite wall with her assault shotgun held low like his P90 before easing around the corner to watch Kaioh's handiwork. It didn't take long. One second the freak job in the clown get up was standing and then suddenly the whiz of a bullet nailed him in the skull spinning him around like a top. An almighty crack followed as the sound of the bullet discharging caught up. "Haruka get that shit off the males face. I'll take blondie!" He ordered before sprinting around the corner a single glance at the perp to make sure he was down for good before he rushed to the blonde that looked on the verge of passing out in the bubble that was starting to float away.

Haruka let a smile slide across her face. When out on a mission her girlfriend was like a guardian angel from above. In the training missions they ran she had never missed a single shot. Mentally clearing her head she sprinted towards the man that appeared to be on the verge of passing out. While running she shouldered the assault shotgun and made a grab at the edges of the substance around his face. She briefly noted that it felt a lot like rubber but didn't take any further time to worry about the issue before she physically started to rip it off his face. The man's head was limp and he appeared to be on the verge of passing out so she placed a foot against the wall for support. "Don't die on me!" She yelled in anger and with a final heave she managed to rip the rubber from his face. In her haste she had ripped a good chunk of his blonde locks out as well but he'd have to deal.

With an almighty gasp Jadeite took his first breathe of air in over a minute. It was pure luck on his part that despite being reborn as humans they seemed to have kept their sturdier endurance from their previous lives. Granted he was human to begin with so he relied more on his transformation than say the Sailor Sensei but ever little bit helped when dark creatures were out to kill them. He let his head hang for a moment as he attempted to recover before glancing up at the young woman that helped him. A brief look of recognition passed his face before his face twisted in horror. "Behind you!"

"Perp's up! Jesus fucking Christ he's up!" Michiru screamed out the warning through her mic. Her normally calm tone forgotten in her panic. She had looked away for a second and when she looked back the perp had pulled itself back up to its feet. Without even looking she pulled a bullet from the band in her Australian bush hat but by the time her second shot would ring out it was too late.

The first strike spun her around like a puppet with its strings suddenly cut. She slumped from the impact. Haruka felt immense pain blossoming in her chest, like someone had run a drill right into her and blood was starting to pour out. She briefly wondered why the vest hadn't stopped anything when she realized that whatever it was had gone out her back from the pain she felt there. Armor piercing was the final thought she had before two more rounds—for lack of a better term—impacted her sending her to the ground. Two more red spots grew in size in her stomach and upper left thigh. She didn't even feel the third impact. Her body was dying. A gasp of air only brought blood into her lungs.

Mass chaos started a moment later. Gavin, who had just finished cutting the blonde out of her bubble prison with his combat knife, turned around at the scream from Michiru over the mic. He absently slung the blonde over his left shoulder as she had passed out and raised the P90 up to position as he yelled out: "Tenou! Hang on!" He ducked a bit to avoid the shower of stones that exploded from one of the nearby walls from one of Kaioh's wayward shots. With the P90 already in full auto he pointed his gun towards the perp and unloaded his clip in a matter of seconds. The gun created the sound of a chainsaw as it fed through its clip and pulled up from the kickback but he didn't give a flying fuck. This had gone from a test of their skills to a nightmare. He pressed down on the trigger but the clip was empty but the demented clown just stood there with a smile on its face. Without a second thought he let the gun fall back to his side still attached by its sling. He reloaded the P90 while taking cover behind a nearby vendor's cart to avoid another round of whatever the hell that thing was firing. There was no way it was human after emptying an entire 50 round clip into it.

In response the creature let loose another volley of the armor piercing rubber shards. The shards tore up the side of the cart and the surrounding area but by luck the card seemed to be made of a sturdy enough material that the shards failed to penetrate Gavin's make shift cover.

There was no way he could reach Tenou without getting shredded himself. With a grunt he laid the girl out next to him and checked her pulse with one hand while keying up his mic with the other. "Sergeant Gavin Kent, requesting immediate back up at Tokyo Carnival. Perp is armed with armor piercing rounds and is wearing bulletproof armor. Officer Tenou is down with critical injuries." Despite the tense situation he managed to keep it together but he couldn't help but wonder what the hell that thing was. The perp had shrugged off a .50 caliber bullet to the head and then fifty NATO rounds to the body without even pausing. The only plus side was that blondie had a pulse even if it was faint. The only problem was how the hell he was going to get out of here with a passed out girl.

The process was automatic after all these years. Pull the bolt back, eject the spent shell, reload, aim, and fire. Michiru could feel the tears streaming down her face as she watched the entire scene unfold below her but she was powerless. Haruka Tenou, her best friend and lover, was currently bleeding out below and this monster wasn't going down. Her second shot made in haste had missed sending a shower of rock and granite across the street from the high caliber round. The third shot didn't miss nor did the fourth or fifth. All three hit their target in the joints that only a crack marksman could hope to hit. If the man was wearing some sort of armor it wouldn't cover the joints. Much to her surprise, when the bullets connected to the elbow and both knees didn't even bring the thing down this time. Whatever was down there was out of their league and it was going to kill Gavin and the two bystanders as well if something wasn't done. She clicked her mic with the side of her head while sighting the perp for the sixth time. "This is Officer Kaioh, Sergeant Kent is pinned down with victim. Officer Tenou is down. Perp is wearing armor I am unable to penetrate. I am requesting back up and armored extraction."

"I'll kill you right here and now if you continue to lie you little blonde nuisance," Nephrite spat in annoyance. "But I have always heard it is rude to kill someone before proper introductions, I am the Western Shitennou, Nephrite. I wield the power of lightning and I shall make your skin crack and bleed under my power if you do not give me the location of the Princess." He ground the tip of the halberd into her soft unprotected stomach for a moment just to remind her of who was in charge here.

Usagi clenched her teeth in pain to keep from screaming out from the painful pressure being placed on her. She felt sick from the pain and barely kept herself from throwing up. Both her eyes were half closed in a squint and tears were starting to form at the corners of her eyes. "I'm telling you I don't know where your damn Princess is and I'm no Guardian either!" She took in another ragged breathe and tried to gather her bearings. A quick look around the top of the roof and she located the sword. Now the problem was getting to it. Her thoughts were interrupted though by the sound of a sharp crack.

Nephrite glanced up at the sudden noise. His eyes narrowed slightly the moment he identified the sound. A gun? He didn't think that Japan allowed guns for anyone other than the Self Defense Force. How odd…had the police force actually responded to the situation? That would be a surprise. A moment later he heard the unmistakable sound of a machine gun unloading. He let out a small laugh. Like he would design a Youma that could be taken down by human firearms? It would take one of those American tanks to put a dent in it. Still it may be entertaining to watch those foolish humans die in their effort to kill his Youma. He turned his attention back to the Princess' Guardian before viciously stomping her chest and knocking the air out of her. "It appears the good men and women of the Tokyo Police have bought you some time. Let us watch them die together, shall we?" He said not really expecting an answer.

With utter disregard for the girl's wellbeing he moved the halberd aside and leaned down to pick the twit up by the neck. A vicious smile crossed his face at the thought of strangling the answers out of her. Something unexpected happened though when his ungloved hand came in contact with the soft and supple creases of her exposed neck. What could only be described as a bolt of lightning suddenly arced off of her neck and encased his hand before both Usagi and Nephrite started to glow silver. He stared in confusion at first and then in fear when he saw her entire skin starting to glow silver to match her now silver hair and silver eyes. What madness was this?

The next thing he felt was lightning, electricity running through his veins. He fell to his knees, unable to dislodge his hand from around the damn girl's throat. What was she doing to him? It wouldn't stop. At first it was nothing more than an odd sensation despite the feeling of electricity but then the pain came. He attempted to scream out but he found his throat was sealed from the electric pulses running through his body. Joints started to randomly spasm, sending him toppling over on his side as he felt the burning sensation enter his head. Unbidden memories rushed forth the moment the electricity reached his brain.

Images flew by so fast he couldn't make sense of them. He managed to catch glimpses of them though. He was in a white uniform like Jadeite's, fighting next to a brown haired girl. Next he was in a formal jacket attending a ball. The images started coming faster and he caught but snippets. In one Nephrite saw himself fighting Beryl. In the next Beryl was leading him and the other Shitennou into battle against faceless enemies. Then the sad eyes of a silver haired beauty in her prime telling him he was forgiven. The pain became unbearable and he managed to with all his might release the Guardian's throat. With more effort than he thought possible he managed to roll away from her. His entire uniform was blackened and his hair singed. Burnt ozone permeated the air and flooded his nostrils making him feel queasy from the smell alone. "What the hell did you do to me you bitch," He screamed as the memories started to come flooding back without reprieve he brought his hands to his head and started to roll around on the ground feebly. "Make them stop! What are these images?"

Usagi for her part managed to get her breathe back from the vicious beating that Nephrite had started in on. She hadn't noticed the silver glow that she had briefly taken on but it would be too late anyway as her features had already started to fade back to her normal coloring. What the hell happened? She felt as if she had touched someone after running down the hallway in socks and given them a static shock. It hadn't been uncomfortable, just a weird sensation, yet whatever she did had managed to burn Nephrite like he had been struck be a lightning bolt. Now he was rolling around on the ground screaming like a crazy person. She slowly pulled herself up and inched her way on her butt back to her sword.

"Alright, don't engage with the crazy person," She muttered to herself uncomfortably. This was just disturbing the man was rolling around in clear mental anguish screaming his head off with no signs of stopping. When she reached her sword she quickly picked it up and raised it in front of her. With no idea what was happening to him or what she had done she was in no hurry to find out if he tried to touch her again. In the time it had taken her to get her sword up, Nephrite had managed to right himself on his feet and started stumbling towards her. "Just stay away from me," She cried out in what she hoped was an authoritative voice.

"What the hell have you done to my mind? You fucking bitch!" Nephrite's voice came out raspy from his heavy breathing. At some point he had managed to retrieve his halberd and was using it to lean on for support. He took a tentative step towards the Guardian but found himself stumbling to his one knee for support. How had she made him so weak? Was she truly this powerful or was it all a fluke brought on by fear? He managed to level a weak glare at her while still breathing heavily to regain his breath from the unexpected attack.

"Like I have a clue what happened to you," Usagi responded heatedly. That was the best she could come up with at least. Usagi tentatively stood up with her sword still leveled in Nephrite's general direction. Although he looked out of the fight she wasn't going to take any chances and if he made a move towards her she wouldn't hesitate to use her sword to…well probably stab him and beat him with the sword. It wasn't like she really knew how to use the thing other than whenever that voice in the back of her head took over. If he came at her, her plan came down to hoping that it would take over her actions again and pull her ass out of the fire.

Nephrite tried to raise himself to his feet again but he found he was too weak. He collapsed to both knees and only managed to stop himself from collapsing by leaning on his halberd once again. He knew he needed to retreat he was too weak to even stand. If this girl had been Jadeite or that damnable Sailor V they would have killed him already. "Enjoy your victory while you can, Guardian. Your Princess is as good as mine!" With a final glare he gathered what remained of his powers and disappeared in a column of black lightning.

"Jokes on you asshole! I have no flipping clue where your Princess is and I'm certainly not her Guardian!" Usagi called out before blowing a final raspberry as Nephrite disappeared completely in the form of lightning.

What the hell was up with these people? Could they be any more cliché looking for a Princess and threatening to kill her or that victory shall be theirs in the end. Was there some type of school for these idiots that trained them how to talk so they all sounded the same? She counted herself lucky that this Nephrite guy didn't get into some kind of monologueing like most cartoon villains seemed to do. With a final shake of her head she headed to the edge of the building to see how the battle was going. The scene below looked like something out of a war movie. She took a moment to steel herself and find her resolve before jumping over the edge of the building to the fight below. Once more a voice guided Usagi as she drew a circle with the tip of her sword on the way down towards the Youma below that told her to exclaim "Lunar Eclipse!"

Jadeite struggled against his bonds but found no give. With his hands and feet stuck in place he couldn't generate any of his powers of fire to free himself. The damn clown was going to kill them and he had no clue where Usagi was. If she ran he would personally see to it that he skinned her alive for this. That is if he managed to get out of this alive. Unfortunately the only person that had a chance of assisting him was passed out behind a vendor stand with one of Tokyo's finest and the one that saved him was unfortunately bleeding out mere feet from him. From what he could tell she was still breathing and that alone was some type of miracle. Her skin was pale and her eyes were closed with short shallow breathes coming in now and again—the only indication she was still amongst the living for the moment. If he could just get to her he could seal the wounds. With a growl he struggled against his bonds but all for naught. Then he heard a voice from above that he never thought he'd be so thankful to hear. It appeared the cavalry had arrived and said cavalry better have a damn good explanation for almost letting him die.

"Shit!" Gavin yelled in surprise as he dived behind another wall just avoiding a painful end by those hardened rubber shards the clown creature was firing out. He was currently trying to keep that damned thing's attention on him and away from the passed out girl, Haruka, or the man stuck to the wall. Unfortunately, to do so meant starting a deadly game of cat and mouse. Luckily the creature, because at this point he had emptied over three clips adding up to one hundred and fifty rounds into it without an effect and there was no better explanation as to what to call it, seemed to be enjoying the game. He clicked his mic with the side of his cheek as he loaded another magazine into his P90. "Kaioh any word on that back up?"

"Still staging goddamn it. They're trying to find a Unimog or a Fuso Fighter with enough armor to take an armor piercing round. Fuck all if they have anything to help us." Michiru responded bitterly over the mic. Normally she was never this worked up but Haruka was either close to death or dead at this point and it was due to her inattentiveness it would be understandable. A certain part of her found this whole situation unbelievable. They were completely outclassed and this bastard in the clown get up was just screwing around with them at this point. None of it made sense to her and that was what was burning her up. This should have been wrapped up in the first five minutes of them being on scene but instead they had an officer down and no backup. She loaded another round into her rifle before clicking the mic again.

"I'm going to put another round through this bastard's head. That should give you enough time to move without reprise." Michiru didn't wait for a response and slid the round into the chamber before sighting her target and firing off another round. To her surprise, the clown simply moved its head to the side before looking right at her through her scope. A creepy grin crossing its face as it pointed right at her. The damn thing knew where she was and she found herself involuntarily shuddering when it slid a finger across its neck. She suddenly lost sight of the entire street. It was almost like a complete black out, one minute the city lights had illuminated the street the next moment it was as if it never existed. Just inky blackness of space or an eclipse something in the back of her head seemed to suggest.

Gavin grunted in annoyance at the information relayed over the radio and readied himself for the shot so he could run. The moment it rung out he pushed off the wall and ran towards his next cover but something had gone terribly wrong. One moment he was in motion and the next minute he was being held off the ground. He struggled to reach his gun but the creature had somehow expanded its hand to encompass his entire upper body to keep him from bringing his weapon to bear on the thing. He attempted to speak but when he drew in air the creature just squeezed him hard enough to knock the breath out of his lungs. This mission was doomed from the start. Nothing short of a high powered war head would kill this son of a bitch. A moment later everything turned pitch black like the lights had been turned off in a windowless room. He mentally prepared himself for the killing blow.

One moment she was falling in the back drop of the Tokyo City lights and the next moment everything turned to black. Usagi wasn't afraid. She simply melted into the shadow as if it were a natural movement. Then the darkness disappeared and she found herself behind the creature, her sword glowing and had somehow made its way into the creature's chest cavity. She twisted the weapon as it started sending pulses of silver power into the creature and burned through its veins like hell fire. It started screaming much to Usagi's surprise as the others she had, well, dusted for lack of a better term had never screamed in pain. Despite her surprise she held onto the sword until the creature suddenly disappeared in a pile of dust as well. One second it was there and the next second much like the others before, it ceased to exist. This left her to just stare when the guy dressed in what looked like American SWAT gear from the TV shows dropped to the ground.

"Um, you alright Mister?" Usagi said tentatively.

"Lunar Ronin," Jadeite grounded out completely pissed off he had to actually use her cover name. Unbelievable. He died a little bit on the inside just saying her name. "I could use some help getting down. If you're not too busy of course."

"Oh!" Usagi turned around quickly with a blush. The blood rushing to her cheeks warmed them to the point she could even feel it. "Right! Sorry…ummm Shitennou..?" She questioned with a slight tilt of her head.

"Just…yeah…fine. Get over here and get me down," Jadeite responded with a slight sigh of annoyance and closed his eyes in an attempt to reign in his annoyance. Really how embarrassing was this situation? He had years and years of experience and she managed to end this whole thing in a matter of minutes.

"So I just…cut here?" Usagi stated with a tad bit of uncertainty as she waved her giant blade at the rubber encasing his one hand. An experimental poke of her blade against the rubber didn't really provide the positive results they wanted.

Jadeite felt his stomach drop the moment she started to casually wield the blade around his hands. His very irreplaceable hands. "Just stop! Never mind just go wake up Sailor V! Please, please, just get her up and get her over here."

"What. You don't trust me?" Usagi harrumphed before crossing her arms over her chest and leveled her best glare at Jadeite. "You were all about including me earlier."

"Well earlier did not mean the possible loss of my appendages," Jadeite said slowly in a condescending voice as if talking to a toddler. "Now please get Sailor V so she can get me out of this mess. I need to stop that girl from bleeding out!" He finished before jutting his chin towards the dying police girl.

Usagi glanced back at the body she hadn't noticed before and let out a small shriek of surprise. The SWAT-looking man was attempting to compress her wounds and stop the bleeding unsuccessfully at the moment. She lost most of her anger in the surprise of being put in a life or death situation. She took a moment to attempt to gather herself before a determined look crossed her face.

Jadeite realized that she was staring right at his rubber encased hand. And she had that look. He recognized that look. It was the same look Minako got when she was about to do something utterly stupid and would possibly cause injury to the person on the receiving end. "Whatever you're doing I beg you not to do it." His voice came out in a strangled whisper and a little on the high side in pitch.

"We have to save her," Usagi said before she brought the sword up and around in a wide arc. A force she still didn't recognize guided her through the motions and she quickly pivoted to do the same on his other hand. Without a single pause she slung the large blade behind her back and started to walk towards where she had seen Minako while coming down from above. "Save that woman, I'll get Sailor V," she commanded in a surprisingly authoritative tone.

Jadeite found himself staring in surprise as he carefully flexed both hands and inspected them for damage. To his amazement, nothing was even nicked by the blade. "Right, right," He muttered in acknowledgement before he flexed his fingers one last time and gathered fire to both fists. With a blast to each of his feet he melted the rubber off enough for him to get out. To his chagrin his boots were covered in the shit but at least he could move. With one last glance back at his temporary prison he quickly made his way over to the fallen officer. "Out of the way I'm going to seal her wounds," He demanded.

"With what?" Gavin looked up in annoyance at the bystander that apparently had been freed by that strangely dressed girl with the sword. If he hadn't been so worried about Haruka he may have taken a moment to assess the girl's threat level but with Michiru still covering him he wasn't as worried.

"I'm going to seal her wounds with fire," Jadeite said impatiently. He clicked his fingers together generating small sparks from the clicks that disappeared in the breeze a moment later. "Now get the hell out of my way if you want her to live and call off your little sniper."

"Look kid I don't have time for your games." Gavin started before he was suddenly pushed back. He absently acknowledged the kid was smart. He had put Gavin in between him and Michiru to keep her from getting a clean shot. It also concerned him that he knew exactly where a highly skilled sniper was firing from. It took him a moment to recover but he started back towards the kid. "Get the hell away from her and you're under arrest for assaulti-"

"Shut up old man!" Jadeite growled out before he snapped his fingers again and fire completely engulfed his hands. Without even looking up he pressed his hands down on the chest wound. He listened for the sizzling to stop and moved on to the chest and thigh wound. One hand on each wound to provide a seal and burn the wound shut. Honestly he was amazed that this girl had lasted as long as she did but he could feel a high concentration of energy in her body. She was a fighter. Perhaps one close to her chi and that was probably why she had lived as long as she did. It was odd that the sniper on the roof at the far end of the street also had about the same amount of power. It wasn't unheard of but it was rare that people with this much energy inhabited the same area. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and rolled her over to get the exit wounds. It took but a moment before she was patched up. It also was in that time that he felt the cold steel of a barrel pressed to his side.

"Now I want you to get up nice and slowly kid. I want your name, I want to know who the hell you are, and most importantly I want to know what you just did to my partner," Gavin demanded with a growl. The fact that the kid had just pretty much pulled a Human Torch on him didn't even phase him not after that freak show clown. It also made him weary of anything that wasn't obeying the accepted laws of what a human could or couldn't do.

"Umm…Shitennou? I got Sailor V but she's still a little loopy." Usagi interrupted hesitantly. There was no hurry to have a gun pointed at you as far as she was concerned. Minako was half slung over her shoulder and leaning against her with a slightly spaced out expression. Whatever gas that had been in the balloon really messed her up.

"HEY!" Minako yelled at the two before waving. "We're gonna go paint the town yellow!" Minako giggled uncontrollably and ended up leaning further onto Usagi, almost knocking them both to the ground. After regaining her footing the loopy blonde pointed at Jadeite. "Com'on…stop…stop…playin cop. I wan…wan go hav'in fun. Cause girls jus wanna have fun…" She trailed off slightly confused by what she was trying to get at. A look of extreme concentration crossed her face before she managed to zero in on Jadeite. "You're mean…you say mean things…I…I dun like you. Dun't they always say…if you dun't got nuthin nice ta say…dun't gift them a horse cause it's too good to be true…" She trailed off uncertainly.

"Ma'm do you need medical attention." Gavin offered hesitantly. He briefly took his eyes off the young man confident in the man not wanting to be filled with bullets to try and assess the girl's condition. She was the one he had cut out of that balloon and if that freak job had used some kind of chemical nerve agent on her she'd have to be quarantined.

Jadeite took his chance while the man was distracted. Not that the gun shot would be fatal in his current form but it would still hurt like a bitch. With a click of his fingers his hand was once more engulfed in flames and he grabbed the barrel. The heat of his hands easily fused the barrel into a solid piece of metal and completely slagged the gun. With a jaunty wave he jumped back to the side of Minako and Usagi. "Sorry Officer but we must depart. Your friend will recover. She's strong. Just get her to a hospital." He briefly turned to Usagi as he transferred Minako into his arms before slinging her over her shoulder. "I'll take Sailor V, you just follow me."

"Jed," Minako wailed as she was manhandled. This wasn't the first time he had done this and it wouldn't be the last. She could only wave at the police officer that was staring between the three teens and his slagged gun.

Gavin just stared in utter shock at his gun and then at the teens as they literally bounded away into thin air. What the hell was he even going to put on his report? Crazed shooter is vaporized…literally vaporized by what he could only describe as some cross between Wonder Woman and Xena. Then the Human Torch sealed Haruka's wounds and they departed with some teen playing a magical girl from Card Captor Sakura as it was the only thing he could grab in his mind that matched the ridiculously showy outfit. This was going to be a mess he could just feel it. Even worse the only person to back him up now was Michiru and she would automatically be considered emotionally compromised based on her relationship with Haruka. The next thing he knew he was being pulled away from Haruka by paramedics and she was being loaded into a fully armored Unimog.

"Shit," He muttered to himself.

"So where are we going?" Usagi questioned as she once more put power into her thighs and pushed off sending herself sailing over another gap between two tall buildings. It was amazing what one could do when one avoided overthinking the action being performed. She landed with a slight stumble before taking off again to bring herself up next to Jadeite.

"Unfortunately, my place," he muttered darkly. "We need to debrief and Sailor V is in no condition to do so out in the open. Not to mention we may avoid that damned white cat."

"Ish na nice to be mean to tha preettieeee kittyyy." Minako interjected and lifted her head up for a moment to take in her surroundings. The flashing lights from the buildings as they went by was causing her to feel sick and she decided to just put her head back down and close her eyes for the time being.

Usagi glanced over at Minako a tad concerned. "Shouldn't we take her to a hospital or something…?" She asked tentatively. Her wide expressive eyes tracked Minako with concern. It wasn't like almost seeing people die was normal for her. The fact that Minako had been passed out when she found her and was still acting weird concerned her.

"She's survived worse," Jadeite responded in a clipped tone before glancing over at Usagi when he landed on the next rooftop to pause for a moment. It must have been her eyes or maybe the fact she was new to this because normally he'd respond with a sarcastic or acidic comment on not being able to show up at the hospital. But Usagi probably deserved some comfort. After a small exasperated sigh he half turned to face the young girl. "Despite looking human we're all pretty sturdy and Minako will be back to normal in another hour or so. We've both been in situations where we walked away from wounds that should have killed us but it never does."

"Oh, so we're like Wolverine?" Usagi said before a small smile crossed her face and she made some slashing motions with her two fists. "We totally need to get the claws, some kickin yellow and brown suits and of course." She lowered her voice drastically. "Gotta talk like this Bub."

Jadeite just stared at Usagi in mild disbelief. Was he having a stroke? Because that was the only thing that could possibly explain what he was seeing and hearing right now out of Usagi's mouth. What the hell went on in her head? "You know sometimes I worry I am actually dead and died of a stroke. Then I realize you're actually saying these things and it concerns me. I'm trying to save the world with someone that is actually suggesting we do something a seven year old child would suggest." He just shook his head as if he would hope it would somehow go away. After a final sigh of annoyance he prepared to make another jump. "Come on we're almost there."

"HEY!" Usagi yelled a little miffed at his dismissal of her idea. "You know Minako is right you're just no fun! You gotta unwind!" Usagi called out as she took off behind him in a huff.

"Yes well, someone has to be an adult in our group." Jadeite responded sarcastically before making a small motion towards a balcony off of the building ahead to indicate his destination. With a final leap he landed gracefully on the balcony. He closed his eyes and let out an annoyed sigh when he heard pottery breaking followed by a slam when Usagi landed. It appeared he'd be replacing his small balcony garden. Probably for the best to be honest as he rarely remembered it was there.

"You know I can see why you and Artemis don't get along." She said in a casual tone as she dusted herself off and attempted to move the broken pottery closer together with her foot. She was kinda pissed at Jadeite's last comment so she wasn't feeling too guilty.

"Oh?" Jadeite responded with a slight raise of his eyebrow. This ought to be an insightful observation.

"You two are like two peas in a pod." Usagi almost laughed at the suddenly sour look that Jadeite now had on his face. "Both of you are uptight, bossy, and have easily bruised egos that need soothing after your feathers have been ruffled. You both act all high and mighty but are just covering up the fact you don't know any more than we do. Finally you both have no sense of humor." She did laugh this time because she could tell Jadeite was fuming by the fact his face was turning red in either anger or embarrassment.

"I am nothing like that fleabag," He said in that clipped tone of his. To think that she could even think that the two acted anything like each other. With a huff he opened his balcony's sliding door and stepped into the two bedroom apartment he was currently renting. For once he was thankful that he only lived like a normal young man most of the time since the sofa was more or less cleared off. He took Minako off of his shoulder and laid her out on the sofa before turning his attention back to Usagi. "Now what I'd love to know is what held you up from assisting us."

"Well some crazy guy with a giant pole thingy that shot electricity came out of nowhere and started attacking me," Usagi answered him with some amount of hesitation. She really didn't want to go over the whole experience. Almost getting electrocuted by a crazy man that thought she was some kind of Guardian for Minako's Princess had put a damper on the whole evening.

"Wait," Jadeite paused before shifting his entire attention to Usagi. Some stupid excuse of getting wet feet or scared of jumping down from the building they were on was what he had expected. "You didn't run into Nephrite did you?"

"Yeah! That's it! He was all like 'I'm the Western Shitennou of Thunder and Lightning fear my wrath,' And he was going to kill me too!" Usagi actually thought she made a passable imitation of his voice and mentally congratulated herself on that fact.

"And he just…what. Let you go?" Jadeite asked with a slight twitch of his eyebrow. This was all suspect at best. If Nephrite had decided to attack her and had her alone there was no way Usagi would have been able to fend him off. Even with her surprisingly powerful attacks she couldn't overwhelm the Western Shitennou. Nephrite never would have made a move on her unless he had consulted the stars first and found it to be in his favor. The man was nothing if not a superstitious when it came to those bedamned stars he read.

Usagi just stared down at the ground at the question because she had a feeling that Jadeite wouldn't like the answer. He never seemed to like any of her answers lately. Probably because they mainly consisted of "I don't know" or "Well it just does that." Still it wasn't exactly her fault. It was all his fault for leaving her up there! But he probably wouldn't see it that way. It just wasn't fair.

"The answer isn't on the floor," Jadeite commented sarcastically. He briefly rolled his eyes wondering what jewel of wisdom she would possibly offer up over her encounter and why she was still breathing. He somehow doubted it would be very enlightening.

"I know that!" Usagi shot back in a scathing tone and glared at Jadeite. "I was just trying to find a way to answer your question!"

"Well…" He responded slowly in his normally sarcastic tone. "Putting the clues together from what I know about you and how well you are doing at this being a Senshi thing, my guess is either he either was toying with you or you unlocked some other power of yours and you have no idea how you did it." He smirked slightly. Seriously these girls were too easy. He could read their expressions like a book. Although Usagi tended to be a bit easier to read since Minako was just always so god damn cheerful.

Usagi huffed and crossed her arms in a petulant manner. "Well if you're going to be such a jerk about it, maybe I won't tell you."

"Oh come on!" Jadeite groaned. "Are you really going to forsake us all by withholding possible pertinent information because I hurt your feelings?"

"Well you are kinda a jack ass Jed." Minako said sleepily from the sofa she had been dumped on earlier. She made no further attempt to move though. At the moment her head was swirling and every time she opened her eyes the room just kept spinning. Whatever she had been forced to breathe in, in that bubble had contained more than just helium. For the moment she enjoyed the fact she wasn't being manhandled by Jadeite or beaten up by some creepy Youma.

"Not helping," Jadeite grumbled. Great Minako was awake which meant that the two of them would be halting any progress with more inane questions. He was about to thank the powers above that Artemis hadn't arrived until he heard a scratching at the balcony door. "How the hell did that damn cat get…you know what? Never mind." He just decided to give up on life. Stuck in an apartment with a talking cat, a spaced out air head, and a petulant woman-child was starting to sound like a punishment you received upon death for leading a terrible life. Perhaps this was karma's doing and he just needed to be a nicer person…or he needed to just leave.

The thought of just picking up and leaving was starting to sound appealing when he actually thought of what was to come. He was going to have to spend time with these people…possibly forever. When it was just Minako and Artemis it hadn't been too bad. Minako could take care of herself despite what happened tonight. She rarely needed help. The problem was the addition of Usagi. He found himself ending up in their company more and more even if he was technically doing it by choice because he needed her help. He could feel a migraine coming on and he took a seat at his computer chair with a small sigh of defeat.

"Are you gonna let Artemis in?" Usagi said. It looked like Jadeite was about to have a mental break down and on one hand she didn't want to press him over the edge. On the other hand the scratching sound was getting annoying.

"No. In the fight between that cat and the door, I am firmly on the side of the door. Besides if he can't make it through a door then what use is having magical powers if you're defeated by a piece of glass on a slider?" Jadeite responded without any hesitation.

"I guess you have a point…" Usagi trailed of tentatively before turning to look at Artemis. He looked kinda pathetic really and she shrugged helplessly when he gave her a pitiful look for help. "Sorry Artemis! Jadeite says that you have to get in on your own!" She called out loud enough for the poor cat to hear her through the door.

Artemis for his part flattened his ears in annoyance before turning his baleful glare at Jadeite but the man just met it with a bored look and made a shooing motion. Really? Shoo him away? The advisor and keeper of the Sailor Senshi? The injustices he had to suffer were ridiculous. Once the Princess was found he would appeal to her better nature and request that Jadeite be executed for his insubordination. Sure she didn't have sway over the Earth's court but the Princess had enough standing that it could work. No one would even miss the sarcastic asshole. A thought crossed his mind and shuddered to think if Jadeite ever came to a true position of power in the future. Shaking the thought away he grumbled once more at the injustice of it all before phasing through the door. "You know, it'd have been simpler to just let me in."

"Yes well I don't have pets for a reason." Jadeite responded in a bored tone. "I don't have time to scoop their litter." A smirk crossed his face. "Unless of course Minako has you potty trained?"

Artemis glared at Jadeite and let out a low growl. "My private goings on are none of your business."

"He calls it his private time." Minako managed to giggle from the sofa. "I have to bring the paper in and close the door. Oh and the vent fan has to be on just right or he gets all ruffled. He's got a shy bladder." She practically laughed herself off the sofa despite the pain it was putting her in.

"Minako," Artemis hissed in embarrassment and put his paws over his face and slowly dragged them down in disbelief. "That was private…" Once he found the Queen…all of them would be ejected and thrown into the sea or thrown into space. This just wasn't fair. Why wasn't life ever fair? He mentally complained even though he knew no one would hear him.

"Well as long as you put the toilet seat down when you're done," Jadeite said lightly and tried to contain the mirth spreading on his face.

"It's alright Artemis." Usagi bent down to pet Artemis and gently scratched under his chin.

"Thank you for understanding," Artemis replied in a put out tone. He glared at Minako who was still trying not to roll off the sofa and then at Jadeite who was currently staring at him with eyes full of mirth.

"It's alright besides I bet it is hard having to ask someone to wipe for you. I know I have a hard time asking for help as well." Usagi responded with a small smile.

"Er…" Artemis started.

Minako suddenly stopped and swung her head around to stare intently at the cat. A suspicious tone entered Minako's voice as she started to put things together. "Hey…just wait a second the toilet paper is never disturbed after you're in there and the water or soap is never disturbed. Wait you don't wipe do you!?" Minako half asked and half accused while pulling a slightly disgusted face.

"We cats are a clean species I'll have you know!" Artemis started in an attempt to defend himself but he had a bad feeling this would be going downhill fast.

"EWWWW!" Usagi cried as she pulled her hand off the cat. "Eww I can't believe you're a talking sentient cat and you don't wipe or wash your hands!" She looked down at her hands in slight disgust and absently wiped them on her mini skirt.

"Oh come on!" Artemis groaned. "You'd pet a normal cat without issue."

"Yes but normal cats don't know any better." Jadeite cut in with a small smirk. "Seriously I knew you people on the Moon were barbaric but I didn't realize you didn't believe in wiping or washing your hands."

"Yes well…the Moon Kingdom afforded certain…amenities." Artemis said with a huff before glaring at all of the people in the room. "You know I have half a mind to return to the Dark Kingdom, memories restored or not!"

Jadeite just snorted and rolled his eyes while Minako shot Artemis an indulgent smile.

"Oh yeah!" Usagi suddenly shouted out surprising the rest of the room. "That is what Nephrite started screaming about! He touched me and then he started to do spasm and roll around on the ground. He was screaming about memories and then when he finally got himself together he was yelling at me for doing something to his mind! Then he just disappeared in a column of lightning."

"You mean to tell me that you were able to unlock some of his memories?" Jadeite asked with sudden interest. If she could unlock their memories as well then perhaps between his powers and whatever she did on accident…wait never mind he thought it was Usagi so it was clearly on accident. Still if she could also do what he could do then perhaps they had a chance of turning the Shitennou back to their original selves.

Usagi shrugged uncomfortably when she realized that not only was Jadeite staring at her but Minako as well. "Umm…I don't really know. I mean I'm just going off what happened. He got real confused and kept going on about memories. Then he appeared really weak. I think he was about to pass out he was so weak."

"Hm…well you may have just gained another useful skill," Jadeite commented absently as he continued to dissect her with his eyes. What was so special about her? He had done the same thing to Zoisite but on a much smaller scale. Whatever he had unlocked had barely affected the man's loyalty. He had noticed some hesitation at times when dealing with him. Still for her to unlock so many memories that she had physically weakened him to the point of exhaustion? It was nothing short of amazing.

"Could you stop staring at me like that? It is kinda creepy," Usagi said before heading over to the sofa and taking a seat by Minako's feet to break eye contact with Jadeite. He was getting that obsessive intense look he got when he was thinking about something. It also rarely meant anything good for her.

"Sorry." Jadeite shook himself out of his thoughts. "Just if you are able to unlock memories to the point of physically exhausting him then I think we can turn him back to our side if you touch him again and did what you did to him again or I manage to get a hold of him and purify any remaining remnants of the false memories that Beryl implanted."

"False memories? So you mean the crazy lightning guy should be fighting with us?" Usagi asked. She was just a little confused. When this whole thing started out it seemed like it was a pretty straight forward mission. Save the Earth: Check. Kill bad guys: Check. Find missing Royalty: Check. And then reestablish the old ruling system of following a King and a Princess? Cause hey why not.

"Yes. Minako and I were lucky enough to escape it," Jadeite started to explain before glancing at Artemis. "Artemis too, but mostly because the brainwashing didn't take with him. I think you had to be above a certain IQ level for your brain to be able to buy the fact that your real memories were in fact the false memories and your false memories were real and poor Artemis just didn't make the cut."

"You know I'm right here." Artemis grumbled dejectedly. "And it was due to loyalty thank you very much."

"You do have some trouble with the computer systems from the Moon Kingdom." Minako stated in a thoughtful tone.

"It is because I have to use paws!" Artemis hissed in annoyance. "I swear working with you two is the greatest insult I've ever had to endure! Why couldn't Ami have awoken from the false memories, she at least always respected me."

"Yes, yes…the pretty kitty is angry with his allies and proves that beggars can be choosers. Nothing new." Jadeite waved off Artemis with a condescending smirk.

"Soooooo you guys were brain washed too and got away?" Usagi asked before looking back and forth between the two to see which one would get the ball rolling.

"Yep!" Minako chirped brightly as she sat up quickly in excitement to tell a good story. It had everything other than a love story but she had no problem adding that in whether it was true or not. After all the facts should never get in the way of a good yarn or something to that extent not that Minako ever really paid attention to those sayings. She was about to start but fell back on the sofa with a queasy look coming over her face. "I don't feel so good."

"Just…please, whatever you do, don't throw up on my sofa," Jadeite said in exasperation. Really was it too much to ask that his apartment survive a single run in with Minako? The last one had burned down in France thanks to a snafu with the waffle iron but he had his doubts with that story. Cursing to himself under his breathe, Jadeite found that once again he was left to clean up every god damn mess. Once again conveniently ignoring the fact that he probably caused half the problems to begin with but Minako and Artemis were not without fault.

"I guess it all started back when we were awakened. While the other Shitennou and I were awakened by Beryl, the Sailor Senshi and their guardians were awakened by Luna, the other mentor and from what I'm told the more annoying cat, but that is up for debate." Jadeite said and gave Artemis a smug smirk.

The white cat just huffed and curled into a little ball in protest. He found it more productive to just sleep since if he was awake he'd just be signing himself up for more abuse by the jack ass that Minako constantly forced him into the company of.

"Anyway, Beryl used some kind of magic to suppress the memories of the Shitennou. For some reason and I think it has to do with my connection to fire and purity." He glared at Minako at her giggling the moment her said purity before he continued after casually giving her the finger. Not that she could see it since she was currently snort laughing into her hands. "The brainwashing didn't fully take. I started to get my memories back the more I fought and eventually I unlocked enough to realize what was going on. After that I started taking the fight to Beryl and unfortunately my only allies were Minako and the fleabag so we were unable to launch much of a counter offensive." Jadeite chuckled. "We tried to unlock the memories of the others but after a failed attempt with Zoisite they stopped coming down to fight as often. And the Senshi are all but hopeless."

"Why would the Senshi be hopeless?" Usagi asked before looking over to Minako who had mostly calmed down despite an occasional giggle to which Jadeite rolled his eyes in annoyance. "If you can convert the Shitennou, why not the Senshi? I mean you remembered."

Minako took a moment to get herself under control and almost had it before she looked at Jadeite again and busted up laughing. Purity? Really how could he even say that with a straight face? The man was the least pure person she knew so the fact he had the power of fires of purity was just laughable at best. "Sor…Sorry." She started laughing again and just barely kept herself from snorting in amusement at her own thoughts.

Artemis laid his ears flat in an attempt to deaden the sound of Minako's high pitched laugh and then her snorting. He cracked his eyes open to observe the others in the room and after a moment he decided perhaps it was time to step in. Minako was laughing her ass off and Jadeite appeared to be trying to kill her by staring holes into her head if his glare was anything to go by. And once more the role of adult fell to him. After a long suffering sigh he pulled himself into a sitting position and coughed into his paw to get Usagi's attention.

"Since my charge is unable to let me sleep in peace…I may as well explain what happened to the Senshi to the best of my knowledge." He carried on without acknowledging the fact that Minako and Jadeite were carrying on like little children. Perhaps it was time to relocate to Usagi. The girl despite her failing at maturity managed to hold onto the guise of wisdom much better than Minako ever could. "The Senshi were awoken by Luna. She was never very forthcoming on the subject when I asked and perhaps she never fully trusted that I bought into the memories. She was awoken by some man that showed her that our memories were all supposedly implanted by Queen Serenity and that they were lies. He helped to show Luna how to unlock what were our supposed real memories."

Artemis paused for a moment and allowed himself to purr in happiness when he saw he had Usagi's undivided attention. Usagi was actually listening to him! Alright he was officially moving in with her. Is this what respect felt like? He had gone so long with just the scraps of attention he received from Minako. She never listened to him all the way, hence why Minako ended up in some of the situations that almost got her killed. "Minako was able to find the truth by using her powers that are closely keyed to love. The genuine and selfless power of love that Minako is connected to, much like Jadeite's purity of fire helped both of them see through the illusion just like my loyalty."

"Don't you mean that the lie was too complex for your little brain to handle so it just did a cold reboot when faced with too many confusing variables?" Jadeite said sardonically. Really It was just fun to get the little cat all worked up. It was a past time that he engaged in after a stressful day. Usually his sarcasm went over Minako's head and from when he attempted to fight with Usagi he found her to be a challenge at times. That left Artemis as the easy target.

"You know my bladder is starting to get full and since I'm just a stupid cat…well right about here looks good." Artemis trailed off as he lifted his leg threateningly and aimed towards the entertainment stand and Blu Ray player. If there was one weapon in his arsenal that was devastating no matter what the situation it was cat pee. "You'll never get the smell out. I'm not neutered."

"That can be arranged you little bastard," Jadeite said imperiously while leaning towards the cat. "I dare you…one drop and I will burn your balls off so fast."

"Boys!" Minako finally interjected in an exasperated tone. She slowly pulled herself up to a sitting position and hit them with what was nothing short of a death glare. "I have a massive headache from almost dying tonight. If you two don't shut the hell up and stop your asinine pissing match right now I will castrate the both of you!" She held both of their eyes for a moment before she started speaking again, articulating each and every word. "Are we clear?"

"Yes." Jadeite responded automatically. He was still a little shell shocked from Minako's outburst. It was easy to forget the Minako was supposed to be the leader of the other Senshi. Normally was she so agreeable and carefree but then if she was pushed far enough this switch was flipped and she turned into an unstoppable force of rage.

Artemis slowly lowered his leg and just nodded in embarrassment.

"Soooo…can we get back to the crazy lost memories from the past thing you guys keep going on about?" Usagi queried with a slight roll of her eyes. The whole thing sounded insane but they seemed to be committed to the whole thing so she figured she would just go along with it for now. If it meant that Sailor V would teach her personally then she'd put up with the crazy past life memory thing.

"Right." Artemis coughed. "As I was saying. The Shitennou's memories were suppressed by Beryl and with enough power the lock can be broken. Jadeite almost succeeded with Zoisite, one of the other Shitennou while in France but he did not have enough power at the time. To free the other Senshi due to the complexity of the issue and the dark taint lingering within them a stronger lock breaker for lack of a better term is needed. While the Shitennou's lock can be overwhelmed with pure force, the Senshi need to have the dark taint in their souls removed as well. The shock of forcing the memories back without purifying their souls first could kill them. We need to find the Princess. She will hopefully have the power of the Silver Crystal, the power source of the Moon Kingdom in consideration of time and with that power she will be able to purify the Senshi." Artemis finished with a small cat like smirk. "And if we have time we'll work on finding Jadeite's King."

"And now that we know you have the same power to unlock the suppressed memories of the Shitennou we will need to discuss in further detail how to use this to our advantage." Jadeite interjected while throwing a glare towards the damned little cat.

"Right." Usagi yawned she hadn't realized how tired she was and glanced at the clock hanging on Jadeite's wall. Her eyes bugged out at the time displayed. It was almost midnight! Her parents were going to kill her. "Shit, I gotta go or else I'll be grounded for the next five weeks. I'll listen to your crazy past memories later."

Jadeite rolled his eyes at her consistent disregard about their past lives. Clearly she must have either been created by Queen Serenity or her memories weren't unlocked yet. Either way it was an annoyance but telling her otherwise was clearly a pointless venture at this time. "Very well…I trust you'll make it home on your own?"

"Of course I'm not an invalid." Usagi responded with a snort as she pulled herself up and waved to Artemis and Minako. "Feel better Minako and I guess we'll talk soon."

"See ya soon Usa!" Minako responded in a chipper voice.

"Safe travels Usagi." Artemis responded with a casual wave of his paw.

"I'll be at your house tomorrow evening." Jadeite informed Usagi in a bored tone before she could leave. He silently counted down the brief moments until Usagi would question what he meant by that. A smirk crossed his face the moment she opened her mouth. And there it was.

"Um…why?" Usagi raised a questioning eyebrow. Just what the hell was he on about? Whatever it was probably was not in her favor that was for sure. Anytime Jadeite showed amusement or glee you could be certain it didn't favor anyone else but him. As far as she was concerned he just enjoyed causing chaos.

Jadeite grinned. If there was one thing he loved doing was delivering bad news. "Why for tutoring of course. You didn't think we'd just create a cover and then jeopardize it by not getting your grades up, did you?"

"You're the worst," Usagi muttered with a sigh of displeasure. Life clearly wasn't fair and Jadeite was hell bent on capitalizing on it. With a final wave she stepped out of the sliding glass door and made sure to close it behind her before she took off into the night.

In the middle of the city far from both Jadeite's apartment and the events at the carnival a man slowly stumbled down a rarely used alley. The man wore burnt clothing and even his hair was burnt at the ends making it appear that he had recently escaped a house fire. It was no survivor though. Nephrite paused briefly and leaned upon his halberd for support. That little bitch had drained him even more than he originally thought. He had attempted to make it back to the Dark Kingdom but he couldn't get enough energy together for the journey.

The man didn't have a way back to the Dark Kingdom…but het could sense the power of that stupid girl that Jadeite left unattended. While his power was too low for Jadeite to pick up right now he could sense out the Eastern Shitennou and that annoying Sailor V. The two were able to mask their powers to a certain extent. The Guardian though…she clearly had no idea and it was about to cost her more than she could ever imagine. He could feel her moving away from the others. She was heading towards him. He may be weak now but eventually she'd stop and then he'd find her. While she slept he would slice her pretty little head from her body and then he'd return to the Dark Kingdom a hero. He was a patient man…another few days would be enough time to recharge enough of his strength to deal with her. In the mean time he'd find her home, study her schedule, and track her family.

A/N: Well here we go a bit of a cliff hanger and a conclusion to the first battle. Please read and review. Let me know what you guys think of what I am doing with the Outers and any other issues you have. I'd like to again thank my beta Fleury's Apprentice70 for prettying up the story and generally making the entire thing readable. I'd like to thak G, Lady Tsumetai, Lucyole, Kai2, AvoidedIsland and someonecool for the reviews. They are always appreciated. For someone cool since he is the only one I couldn't PM, glad you are enjoying the story so far and hopefully the fun continues! Also for Dudleygirl well…wish granted. The Sailor Armor for Usagi is specific to her for them moment. I had to give her a leg up since she started out without a guardian to speak of…though she kinda has Artemis now. The other reason is that I wanted her to be able to battle on her own as I find that Sailor Moon in the anime and magna is more of a finisher. I want her to be able to battle as well and not just get beat up until her allies can weaken the enemy enough for her to overwhelm them with her attacks. Depending on how things play out Minako may or may not get an upgrade and the same with the other Scouts. It is need based but since I will probably be making stronger enemies the answer is probably going to be yes it is a new take on the uniforms.


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